Broken Time Lords
by TimeTravellingThestral
Summary: It turns out that the the Master is alive. He and the Doctor are reunited and they start travelling time and space together. But it still remains a mystery to how the Master had returned. Eventual slash. It is set after Journey's End. COMPLETE
1. Broken Time Lords

**BROKEN TIME LORDS  
**

**Summary: A homeless person is taken into The Royal Hope Hospital and it just so happens that he has two hearts.  
Spoilers: Last Of The Time Lords  
Warnings: Includes self-harm  
Characters: The Master, The Doctor, Martha Jones  
Point Of Views: 1:The Master's POV, 2:Martha's POV, 3:The Doctor's POV, 4:The Doctor's POV**

**1.**

The rain poured down on a small town in London. The rain was soaking his hair and drenching his clothes. He never liked the rain, it seemed to be lacking some very nice chemicals rain used to have, but that was years ago. That was when the grass was red. He leant over his giant cylinder with burning newspaper inside. The weather was wrong too; it was always too cold. Yesterday some old lady with a kind smile gave him some medication, but he wasn't reacting well to it. He kept coughing all day long whenever he took or bought medication. He could taste all the different chemicals in it too, and they were once again wrong.

He was wearing a black suit with a coat and some really expensive shoes but yet he was living on the streets. He tried to get shelter, but they always told him he needed an ID, or a phone number to book a room. How can you 'book a room' anyway? Books are for reading.

He managed to find a dry cleaners so he could clean his clothes and he found a box filled with money called an ATM. It didn't take long for him to type in a code for 10,000 pounds to come pouring out. He bought more clothes and food but never slept indoors, besides he liked the sight of the sky at night. He knew the names of every single star out there.

He lived a pretty simple life. All he did was sit down on the bench all day and watch the humans walk past. He was always waiting for one man, but he never came. That normal pattern of life went on until the day he went for a walk into central London where he met a woman called Martha Jones.

He was just walking along and breathing in the oxygen when he saw a knife. He had the urge to bring pain to these apes, but he always tried to ignore it because the man he was longing for doesn't like people hurting his humans. But sometimes he liked to carve symbols into himself. He had no idea what each symbol meant, but it made him feel less lonely when ever he looked at them.

One day he cut the knife in too far and he hit a blood vessel. He began to bleed out all over the street and began to die. He had this weird feeling stirring inside him that made him feel like he wanted to refresh himself, whatever that means? An ambulance pulled up on the side of the road and some humans began to drag him into it. They loaded hooked him up to a machine that measured his blood pressure. The humans were shocked to see how fast his blood was pumping, but it's normal for him.

He got loaded out of the van and taken into a hospital. They put him on a bed and began to pump him with O- blood because they presumed that his blood type could cope with it. His hearts began to beat faster as they struggled to clean the human blood, but it was useless.

A doctor ran into the room when she got informed about this strange patient. When she saw him she gasped in shock. She told the other doctors to stop putting blood in his system. They did as they were ordered, although they were very confused.

Half an hour later the man woke up. He looked around the room until his eyes set on the fearful looking woman in the corner of the room who was watching him.

"The Doctor is coming to pick you up," she said still studying him.

The man leant against his pillow and tried to sit up. "Who's the Doctor?" he asked rather confused. Aren't there many doctors in a hospital?

"Oh don't play with me, Master," the woman said rather annoyed. "You're not going to get out of this. I have UNIT soldiers surrounding he hospital. It was very lucky I just so happened to be working back here today!"

The man stared at her confused. "Who are you?" he asked hoping it would trigger memories.

The woman smirked. "The person who walked around the Earth for a whole year stopping your raid of terror!"

He just looked at her very confused. The woman was wearing a badge that said her name on it. "Martha Jones… sounds familiar…" he said to himself.

"Ya think?" she asked mockingly.

Whenever he tried to think about his past his head always started hurting. He hadn't noticed he was tapping a beat of four on one of the metal poles that holds the bed together until Martha looked at him in hatred. He stopped and put his hand against his head trying to get the sound out, but it was hopeless.

A blue box began to materialise in the middle of the room. A smile was tugging at the corners of Martha's mouth as she saw it appear. A man in a pin stripped suit stepped out and walked over to Martha. A pulled her into a hug and then began thanking her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he repeated excitingly. "You didn't kill him."

Martha looked up at him with something that was questioning if she really did want whoever he was dead or not. "Don't push it," she said.

The pinstriped man then walked up to the bed where the other man sat. Straight when he looked him in the eyes he found who he was looking for. In his eyes he could see his best friend who was the only person on this whole stinking planet that he cared about, but there was something else in his eyes. It was like loss or loneliness. He must feel as sad and lonely as he does. His friend looked at him and clearly recognised something strange about him too. He tried to connect his mind with him and he didn't block him out. His friend jumped back in shock.

"Master?" his friend asked.

But he didn't even know who the Master was so he just looked away into the distance.

"Koschei?"

He turned his head to face him. "Theta," he said. "Why's it so empty?"

Koschei spoke in a really quiet and scared voice that really startled Martha.

"What did he say?" Martha interrupted.

Theta ignored her and walked closer to Koschei.

"It's okay, I'm here. Everything is going to be okay," Theta said as he climbed onto Koschei's bed and wrapped his arms around him.

"It's so dark… so alone…" Koschei said and tears formed in his eyes.

Theta looked down at him with that look that made Koschei's hearts sink. "I know, I know," he mumbled.

They both opened up there minds and connected to the only other bright stars in the room of darkness. Theta and Koschei got up from the bed and Theta guided him into the blue box with his arm still rapped around him.

**2.**

It was a brilliant Monday morning and the sun was shining through the gaps in the curtains. Martha lied in her bed with her sheets rapped tightly around her. She had wonderful dreams about other worlds and far away places, but then she always had to wake up to reality. It's not that she didn't want to travel with the Doctor, but if you get too close to the fire you get burnt. The Doctor did care about her but she was no Rose. She couldn't go spending the rest of her life flying in a blue box with a madman. She had worked so hard to become a doctor and now she gets to.

She did work for UNIT at one stage and she still does get called in for special operations but she now spends most of her time at the hospital. Today she was going back there and she was kind of nervous. She had been away so long. First travelling with the Doctor and then working for UNIT. She didn't even remember how to live a normal life anymore.

She got out of bed, got dressed, ate some toast, and walked out of the door. The hospital was just down the road so she didn't have to drive very far. When she came in sight of it she couldn't help but think of the day the hospital went to the moon.

She walked inside the door where she saw doctors carrying a man inside at a very fast speed; this must be really serious. Being the infamous Martha Jones, she always wanted to help so she ran up to one of the nearby doctors and asked what happened.

"We got called up because there was some man self-harming down the street. He would have died if we didn't get there fast enough. He has extremely high blood pressure and we have given him some O- because we couldn't find out what type he is. But is system isn't reacting well, but maybe if we give it a while then it will sort its self out," he replied in a rather excited tone. They never really got many interesting patients but he still was a little over the top. "But you know what the weird thing is? His heart is beating at the normal pace but his blood is going twice as fast."

Martha froze on the spot. That is a very unearthly thing for a human to have. Clearly he wasn't human. If the Doctor wanted to see her that bad then why didn't he just walk up to her instead of playing old games, and pretending to be sick just so he could go to hospital. But the man said that the patient was self-harming, so it couldn't be the Doctor.

Martha ran up the stares as fast as she could, receiving very odd looks from the other doctors and nurses. She ran into the patient's room and went over to his bed. The man lying there was the Master. It was the actual Master who was supposed to be dead! He looked like he was in some kind of coma so he didn't look like much a threat right now so she pushed the other doctors out of the way and put her stethoscope up to the left side of his chest and then to the right. Yep, two hearts. She gasped in shock.

"What's wrong Dr Jones?" a doctor asked her.

"Stop putting the blood into him," she ordered.

They did as they were told. Martha only stood there and stared in shock. How could he be alive? Why was he here? Why was he self-harming? And what was she going to do?

The other doctors moved away from the Master when they got the impression that Martha was going to take care of this. She lifted up his arm to take a look at the cuts down it. She was quite shocked by how warm his skin was; she hadn't felt anything like it since the Doctor.

She studied the inscriptions on his arm. They were of none of the languages she knew. Each symbol looked similar to the writing that was always on the TARDIS screen. It was most probably High Gallifreyan. Martha sat down on the closest chair she found and tried to focus on her breathing. She got out her phone and called UNIT.

"Hi this is Martha Jones, I think you better get down here quick," she said into the phone.

They didn't need to told where she was because they knew all too well that Martha had given up her job at UNIT to work at a small, insignificant, little hospital. Well that's what they thought of it.

"The Master is back, but we mustn't kill him. Only the Doctor will know what to do. I'll call him as soon as I can, I just need you lot to make sure he doesn't escape," Martha said.

"Yes Dr Jones, we'll send some people down there right away" the soldier replied.

She hung up and once again tried to collect herself. When the Master woke up she was expecting the worst. He would most probably try to kill every human in the building. She dialled the Doctor's number next.

"Hello?" he asked a bit suspiciously.

Martha couldn't help but feel relieved that she was hearing his voice. "Hi it's Martha."

"Martha Jones! Long time no see! How are things?"

"It's the Master," Martha said wanting to skip the whole 'missed you' conversation when he was just probably just having so much fun he forgot about her.

"What?" the Doctor asked, making sure he had actually heard her right.

"He's at the hospital, just lying in a bed, sleeping, right in front of me, he's seriously here."

"No." the Doctor's voice went a lot quieter. "How?"

"I donno. He's just somehow here, I don't care why but I want him gone."

"Ok… When are you?"

"4th of September, 2009, 11:50am."

The Doctor hung up leaving Martha alone in the room with the man that tortured her family and killed more than half of Earth's population.

**3.**

The Doctor hung up. He could barely speak any longer. He didn't know why he couldn't sense the Master but he was going to that time anyway. He suddenly felt a surge of hominess. He could sense the Master for just a second but then in faded.

"Oh he better still be alive!" the Doctor said to no one but himself.

The TARDIS materialised in the hospital and the Doctor ran out to find Martha standing there with an unhappy expression on her face, but then she smiled and ran up to the Doctor for a hug. He thanked her so very much, until they physically could not hug any longer.

The Doctor turned to look at the hospital bed, which his old friend lied in. Straight when the Doctor saw him and felt him alive in his head he did the one thing that he had been longing to do for what seemed like eons. He opened his mind and reached for the other Time Lord. He knew he was going to get knocked out of the Master's mind like he always did but he didn't for some strange reason. The Doctor searched around in his head trying to find out why he wasn't resisting.

"Master…" he began to ask. The Master didn't even look at him.

He kept searching in his head until he found the all so obvious explanation. He had no idea why the Master was here but all he knew is that he couldn't remember much at all besides the basics.

"Koschei?" he asked. The Master looked at him this time. He could see the isolation in his eyes clearly.

"Theta, why is it so empty?" he asked him in Gallifreyan. He looked so afraid and alone.

The Doctor hadn't spoken in Gallifreyan for many Earth years and even just hearing the Master speak in it brought pain to his hearts.

He walked over to the Master's bed and gave his best friend a hug. It felt so wonderful to touch another Time Lord again after being so alone.

"It's okay, I'm here. Everything is going to be okay," the Doctor replied also in Gallifreyan.

Martha stood in the distance not understanding a single word coming out of their mouths.

"It's so dark… so alone…" the Master said. He wasn't like this in the year 100trillian but that was because the drums were pushing all the pain away, but the drums were fading from his mind now.

"I know, I know," the Doctor replied.

The Doctor and the Master got off the bed and walked back to the TARDIS, where they were away from all of these humans that would never understand the Doctor's need for another Time Lord.

The Master ran his hand along the TARDIS console and soaked in that lovely Artron Energy. The Doctor desperately wanted to know what happened to the Master, and why he has forgotten, and why the drums have quietened down a lot, but the Master needed rest and he needed to go thank Martha another few thousand times.

The Master's bleak face turned very happy. He inhaled the air filled with TARDIS and Time Lord scent and smiled again.

The Doctor hadn't seen a smile like that on him since they were at the academy. The Master wondered down the halls happily exploring the TARDIS. The Doctor knew the TARDIS would make sure he wouldn't get into any trouble, so he walked out of the TARDIS.

She was standing there with her arms folded and had and expression on her face that looked like she wanted him to tell her what was going on. "So what is all this about?" she tried to ask casually.

"I honestly have no idea," the Doctor replied still smiling his manic grin. "Thank you, so much, Martha Jones. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Martha smiled a little bit. "I do know, and that's why I didn't just let UNIT just kill him, but… just be careful. You can't trust him."

The Doctor cringed at the word 'kill' but then he got over it. "I know."

He hugged Martha one last time before he turned around and re-entered the TARDIS.

**4.**

The Doctor found the Master asleep in the room that was his during the time he had hijacked the TARDIS. The Doctor never bothered to get rid of the room. The Master was sleeping a lot more peaceful than he even used to at school. He wasn't having any nightmares or anything this time. Suddenly bolted upright when the Doctor tried to enter his mind again. The Master looked at him confused, but then he let the Doctor in there again.

Even in the state he was in the Master was still a genius. His mind was sorted out so beautifully and it was just amazing to be in his head. But when the Doctor tried to find his memories there was nothing but a few little memories that didn't have that much significance.

The drums were so quiet that they could only just be heard the tiniest bit. The Doctor followed the sound and he found all the other memories there. The Doctor tried to fix the Master's mind by unlocking all of the other memories. It did absolutely nothing until about five minutes of sitting still and waiting. The Master finally blinked and then his eyes widened in horror. But then he relaxed again.

"Master?" the Doctor asked a little unsure of what was going on.

The Master looked at him. "They're gone…" he said unemotional but sounding a little bit more like himself. "The drums are gone!" he smiled his good smile again, that was nothing like his evil Harold Saxon smile.

The Doctor was still inside the Master's head. He could still hear the drums a little bit in there. "No they have just quietened down," he informed him.

The Master's smile faded slightly. "But that's still good!" he surprisingly hugged the Doctor but then pulled back embarrassed.

But the Doctor pulled him in again. They jumped up and down with glee.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked seriously. He could almost swear he saw fear in the Master's eyes.

"I died," he said simply.

"Yes, I know that part," the Doctor replied slightly annoyed.

"I refused to regenerate."

"Yes…"

"Why?"

The Doctor felt very annoyed now. How was he supposed to know why? He said it was because he didn't want to spend the rest of his life imprisoned with the Doctor, but he couldn't bare to say that, because he didn't want to admit to himself that his friend rather die than be with him.

"It was because I was going to kill you," the Master said lost in thought.

The Doctor looked at him confused.

"The drums were pounding so hard and ordering me to kill you right then and there. We couldn't be alone in the TARDIS together or after a while I would have just given in, so I ended it."

The Doctor couldn't help but feel selfishly happy about that. It wasn't because he'd rather die than be with him. But then he shoved those selfish thoughts out of his head and thought about it rationally. The Master had let himself die so he didn't have to kill him?

"And then what happened?" the Doctor asked intrigued.

"I woke up in the Time War…" the Master replied still staring out into space. "It was horrible. I had no way escaping then. The drums were so deafening, they were what lead me there. They wanted war so they got war. I had to fight in the war, and kill so many Daleks, so many more ships smashing into the Citadel. The Time Lords screaming in the dark as our last hope was destroyed and then it was ending. We knew they would win…"

As the Master was explaining this the Doctor could see it clear as the present. All of his memories he tried so hard to block out were coming back and it was so devastating.

"So we all fought them with everything we had. We no longer cared if we won or lost we just wanted to kill every single Dalek. We even resurrected Rassilon, Omega, and the Other, but it was no use. Then you burnt everything and locked the time lock and they all died. Just before everything burnt I just happened to find a dimension-canon. Those things are lot more powerful than we thought. Not only could they jump through dimensions they could also get through time locks. But it went wrong, the time lock was too powerful and it broke the dimension-canon so when I got here I lost my memory and lived on the streets for 4 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, and 8 hours," the Master finished explaining. His eyes were filled with so much pain that it was almost unbearable to watch.

Usually the Master wouldn't succumb to all the pain in front of his enemies but all they have is each other now, and they are the only ones in this reality that no how horrible it is.

The two Time Lords sat in the Master's room for what seemed like hours. They were just staring at each other and feeling each other's presence, but it was the only thing they wanted to do.

THE END.


	2. TARDIS's Choice

**Chapter 2**

**Spoilers: Journeys End, Last of The Time Lords  
Characters: The Master, The Doctor, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott  
Point Of Views: i have decided that i will no longer tell you what the point of views are, but usually each number will be a different persons POV and some numbers won't even have a particular person's POV  
And this is set between Journey's End and End of Time.**

**5.  
**It was a very sunny day in Chiswick. It was actually quite shocking, because for the past week it had been raining almost non-stop. Donna was making her way from the car to the shopping centre. She needed to buy some parts for her machine she was building. Yes, the average everyday person named Donna Noble was building a machine. She never knew she had a talent at engineering but apparently she does. She had no idea how the machine worked and why she was building it but she started she couldn't stop. The sun was beaming down on the city and it appears that that was good, because the machine worked better if there were no weather problems interfering.

She arrived at the mechanics shop and began to look around for equipment. She had a feeling that there was nothing here that she was looking for. She exited the shop receiving many strange looks from all the big men with long hair, many tattoos and wearing leather. She clearly didn't look like the type of person to be buying tools and things. She entered a department store and looked around for an iron, a kettle, an orange juicer, a spatula and some duck tape. She eventually found all the items and exited the shop. She got in her car and drove back home.

All the way home there was a car following her. She ignored the car because she was too determined on building her machine. When she stopped her car the car behind her also stopped. A person wearing a helmet and leather clothes got out of the car. He was probably just one of the men from the mechanics store looking to cause trouble so Donna quickly ran into her house and locked the door. The man had a detecting devise in his hand. He held it up to Donna's house and scanned it. He then got back in the car and drove away.

Donna was quite frightened but very happy that he left. She went into her garage and began to work on her project again. Her granddad entered the room after her.

"Donna, I think you should get some sleep," he said a little panicky.

"No I'm alright, thanks Gramps," Donna said looking at her machine and playing much attention to him.

"Please, you can't go on like this. You haven't slept in days. I think I should called a doctor."

Donna's head snapped up when he said 'doctor'.

"What about the Doctor?" she asked firmly.

Wilfred's eyes widened a little bit. "Nah, I said _a _doctor not _the_… defiantly not _the_."

Donna went back to making her machine as Wilfred slowly and very cautiously made his way towards her. "What's this then?" he asked.

"It's a background radiation detector," Donna said in a very monotone voice.

"Ooh, that sounds technological…"

Wilfred had an idea why Donna had been acting so strange but he didn't want to admit it to himself. It was because of her massive Time Lord brain placed inside a small human head, not the best combination. But the Doctor had fixed it, and she was going to be all right, maybe this is just some kind of after effect. He tried so hard to believe it, but he knew the truth deep down. "So why are you building this?" he asked.

Donna's eyes finally left the machine, as she looked at him very confused. "I really don't know," she said a little afraid. "It just feels like the right thing to do… like I will finally get better if I do this. My life will finally mean something."

"Your life already means something, Donna," Wilfred wined.

Donna snapped back into unresponsive mode and she perfected her machine. She added the final piece and then clicked the 'on' button.

The machine began to whirr to life and it searched for things with background radiation. It picked up multiple targets on Earth and a few on other planets. Eventually it locked on to the object and began to pull.

**6.  
**It had been two weeks now. The Master was almost rehabilitated, but he was still a little bit fearful. It had taken the Doctor ages to be better after the time war but he didn't have another Time Lord to help him. The Master was currently sitting on the TARDIS floor staring at a wall. The wall was actually quite fascinating. It is an orange-yellow colour and as many fist size holes in it. How would one of those holes taste? The inside of it was a darker shade, it was a sort of brownish kind of colour and it might taste very good.

The Master thought he might as well give it a shot. He licked the wall. It was very smooth on his tongue but it had no taste, but then again it tasted sort of metallic, is that even possible?

"If your hungry I got food," the Doctor said pulling many grocery bags inside the TARDIS.

The Master turned around and scowled at him. "I do not want to eat your primitive Earth food," he said glumly.

He had been trying to be mad or annoy the Doctor quite often lately. In the last two weeks he was slowly coming back to his senses, and he realised he had actually spent more than a whole Earth day emotionally vulnerable and crying with the Doctor. How could he earn his dignity back?

"How can food be primitive?" the Doctor asked pretending to be oblivious to the Master's erratic behaviour. He knew all too well what the Master was trying to do, but he didn't care. He'd put up with anything to help his friend get back to normal, well what he really wants is Koschei normal, not Master normal.

"You say that you hate domestics but yet you still go grocery shopping," the Master said mockingly.

"Well what are we supposed to do, stop every few hours at travellers take out shops?

The Master's eyes lit up to the thought of leaving the TARDIS. He really did want to stay in the TARDIS, because it felt very homey, but he wouldn't miss a single chance to get outside. The TARDIS was still not happy that the Master is now living aboard her, but I suppose anyone wouldn't be very happy if they got turned into a paradox machine.

The Doctor knew that they should eventually go back to saving the universe and whatnot, but he wasn't sure if the Master should be unleashed upon the world yet. "Fine, one trip. But not Earth. Wouldn't want people to be staring at us wondering why the homicidal ex-PM is here," he said.

The Master's face darkened slightly. Having the drums almost turned off he was beginning to get feelings of guilt back, and having killed all of the people that he has, it is not a good thing. "Okay," he simply said.

The Doctor ran around the TARDIS pumping pumps, switching switches and clicking buttons. The Master wished he could run around the TARDIS and do the same, but every time he touched the controls the TARDIS zapped him.

The TARDIS materialised and the door swung open automatically. The Doctor looked at the Master with raised eyebrows. He stalked towards the door with the Master following behind him. They ended up standing in the middle of the road in Chiswick.

"I thought you said, no Earth," the Master complained. He still remembered the day the Doctor left him for this stupid planet.

"No, no, no, no, we shouldn't be here," he said looking around. There was absolutely nothing significant about this place. It was just a normal street and the TARDIS was parked right outside a normal house. It was all just a coincidence they were here. The Doctor turned around to see that normal house they coincidentally parked outside. And who do the coincidences revolve around? Donna Noble. And it just so happened that this was her house. The Doctor was about to call out for the Master when he realised he wasn't there. "Master?" he asked no one but the air.

An old man suddenly ran out of the front door of the normal house and coincidentally ran right into the Doctor. "Oh sorry, Doctor. Donna just exploded her machine, so I was running out here to get the fire hose. I'm really sorry, Doctor," Then something clicked in Wilfred's mind. "Oh my god, it's you Doctor! It's really you!" He began to do a little happy dance until he realised the major problem. "But you can't be here. What about Donna?"

The Doctor was just staring at him with a concerned and confused look on his face. "No I can't be here, I'm not even meant to, Wilf. You see the TARDIS just landed here and now the Master's gone. I have to find out why," he said rather panicky.

"Who's the Master?" Wilfred asked.

"My friend, I just have to find him."

Out of that very normal door ran another normal person. "It worked!" Donna said with so much happiness in her voice. "It really worked!" She held her arms up to the sky in delight. "I'm back!"

The Doctor turns his head to look at her with fear. The fear is not as in his afraid of her; it's more him being afraid for her.

"No, no, no, this can't happen, not now," the Doctor says rather panicked.

Wilfred looks between the Time Lord and half Time Lord a little confused. At his old age can understand the basics of aliens, and time travel etc. but some things were a bit too much for him. Donna clearly got her memory back and that threatened her life, and also the Doctor's friend had gone missing, but it was a bit odd that the Doctor didn't seem to be worrying about the creepy person in the distance wearing leather clothes and a big helmet.

"Err Doctor…" he tried to begin to explain.

The Doctor ran up to Donna and got his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He put it up to her head and tried to see how long she has left to live. He dropped the screwdriver back into his pocket and stared at her in disbelief.

"That's right time boy, I fixed the problem when you couldn't. Gotta love that brilliant human initiative!" she said victoriously.

"But how?" the Doctor asked.

"Well it's just a temporary plan at the moment, we can fix it permanently later. Well the alien invasion a while ago triggered a little memory spike, and then the part of my subconsciousness that held the memories began to awaken. I didn't have long till it was complete and I died, so I let it take control and I randomly but not so randomly went around buying parts of machines to build a thing that will pull the TARDIS to me. And while I was doing that I built a mind-compression-filter!"

"Oh Donna that's brilliant!" He pulled her towards him for a hug.

"What's an mind-thingamajig?" Wilfred asked interrupting their reunion.

"Mind-compression-filter," the Doctor corrected. "It is a sort of… thingamajig that shrinks stuff in someone's mind and throws away worthless things. It is like when you compress a document on a computer, you sort of shrink it."

Wilf stared at him confused. Even when the Doctor tries to simplify something to Earth tech, he still confuses him.

"Well you get the point, it creates a small shell on the outside that stores an enormous interior. It's kind of like the TARDIS in that respect."

"A Time Lord can mentally create MCFs to categorise their thoughts, and that idea never came to this dumbo," Donna said playfully, implying to the Doctor.

The Doctor hated being proved stupid but really it was quite silly of him.

"Doctor…" Wilfred tried to interject again.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have thought of that," the Doctor said really sadly.

"Stop pitying yourself, go have your angst fest once with dealt with the Master," Donna said jokingly serious.

"Oh right, the Master, how could I forget!"

"Doctor!" Wilfred raised his voice allot louder this time.

He turned to look at him. "What is it Wilf?"

"It's just there is a err… man standing over there. He looks like he's angry or somethin' but I can't exactly see his ah… face due to the helmet or somethingarather," Wilf stuttered uncomfortably. He wasn't really one for liking attention.

The Doctor looked over in the direction Wilfred pointed. "But that's a Slab! What is a Slab doing here?" he asked himself.

The Slab raised its gun in the direction of the Doctor. It pulled the trigger. The Doctor felt towards the ground gripping his wound in pain.

"Doctor!" Donna called as she ran towards him. She pulled him into a sitting position.

Wilf warily walked over to the Doctor and tried to help support him.

The Doctor grunted in pain. "I'm not gonna die," he breathed.

"Of course not, Doctor," Wilf said trying to keep is spirits up.

"No, I really am not going to die. That was a paralyser. It's going to paralyse all of my muscles, including the heart. But it's set to human standards so it will only paralyse one of my hearts. Used to use them of Gallifrey to disarm criminals," he said between gasps of air. "My respiratory bypass system will kick in, in a minute."

Donna looked back to the Slab in the distance. She stood up and walked over to it. She knew that the Slabs do not have the ability to produce actual speech but they do a range of different grunts and panting, from the Doctor's memories in her head. "Excuse me?" Donna called out to it.

It turned to face her. It made various noises that Donna knew translated into, 'Humanoid approaching carries traces of higher beings but is not one of them, does carry significant amount of danger though. Head carries thoughts of higher beings, danger of exploding, dangerous to Slabs. Retreat!'

"My head isn't going to explode!" Donna yelled getting quite annoyed.

'Humanoid understands Slab Code, potential threat. What are you?'

"Why did you hit the Doctor?" she asks ignoring its question.

"Higher beings are primary target. Must retreat!" The Slab disappeared leaving nothing but a slightly confused Donna behind.

She walked back over the Doctor who was still on the ground with her granddad. "Let's bring him inside," she suggested.

After allot of hard work they eventually managed to carry him into the house. They lied his body down on the couch. Donna walked over to the window and stared outside. While she had let her subconscious take control she was too determined to do anything than build her machine so she hadn't really cared about the Slab that scanned her. She now realised what it was and why it was scanning her. The Slabs were searching for _higher beings _maybe those _higher beings _are Time Lords.

Donna heard a gasp behind her and she turned around to find the Doctor awake and moving again.

"Wow, it's been a while since I had been paralysed!" he said as he jumped off the couch at a speed that would give a human a headache.

The Doctor's head was hurting though. Well it wasn't really a physical pain; it was more mental. The dark place in the back of the Doctor's mind that had been filled with all of the emptiness the time war left him, and was now full of the wonderful hopes the Master had gifted him with was actually quite empty at the moment. And why was that? The obvious explanation was that the Master wasn't here right now.

The Doctor almost banged his head at his stupidity. How could he forget about the Master? He ran outside ignoring the confused looks from Donna and Wilf. He breathed in a breath of air and tried to smell the Master. He wasn't very far away; actually he was quite close, maybe even only 20 feet behind him. The Doctor turned around to find a Slab right there. 'Higher being in sight. Prepare neutralisation process!" it grunted.

The Doctor pulled something out of his pocket before the Slab could shoot him. Maybe it was a good thing the Master built another lazer-screwdriver so he could confiscate it. He set it to radiate and pushed the button. The Slab burst into little straps of leather and was inactive.

The Doctor ran over to the other Slab that was standing 20 feet away holding the Master by his arm. The Master was paralysed but alive. The Doctor radiated the second slab and freed the Master. It was another few minutes before he would regain consciousness. The Doctor carried him with his super Time Lord strength into the TARDIS and set him down on the captain's chair. The Doctor couldn't help but think about how peaceful he looks. He turned around and exited the TARDIS. He saw Donna and Wilf outside and walked over to them.

"What are we going to do about the Slabs?" Donna asked curiously. "We need to find out why they attacked you and the Master."

The Doctor looked at Donna with regret. "_We _aren't going to do anything. But _I _am going to run a scan for any more Slabs."

"Wha-what do you mean?" she stuttered. She was refusing to let herself believe she heard him clearly.

"You can't stay with us Donna… well at least not now."

"But Doctor, what about all the hard work Donna did trying to find you and heal herself?" Wilf asked uncomprehendingly.

"Last time when her Time Lord mind was free like this it was too much for her. Even to compress it, it will still leak out eventually and Donna will be no more," the Doctor said sadly. "I'm really sorry."

"No, I won't let you do this," Donna said as tears welled up in her eyes. "You won't take it away from me again. You just don't want me to have your memories. Isn't that right!"

"No Donna it's not that…"

"No admit it. I want you to tell me the truth. I know you don't want me to know everything about you!"

"Fine! Fine, it's true. But you will still burn unless we fix this!"

"There must be some other way!" Wilfred pleaded.

The Doctor could take this anymore. Donna was right. She was always right. Of course he didn't want her running around knowing everything about him. He couldn't cope knowing some of things he knew, let alone her. "I could erase the memories of our last trip together, and that might remove the Time Lord consciousness," he suggested.

"Will I still get to come with ya?" Donna asked.

"No, being around other Time Lords, will awaken it. But having your memories of the travels with me, isn't that enough?"

"Of course not!"

Oh who was he kidding? Nothing would be worse than being stranded on Earth after seeing all that. Something suddenly interrupted the Doctor's thoughts. It seemed as if the TARDIS was trying to contact him. He turned around to see the TARDIS dematerialising.

He reached out for the Master in his mind and ordered him to stop, but the problem was that he was still asleep. The TARDIS must be driving herself again. The Doctor ran up to the door, stuck his key in and tried to get in before he was stranded on Earth himself. The door unlocked as he jumped inside the TARDIS.

Everything looked normal inside besides the fact that the time rotor was functioning. Still inside the TARDIS he looked back at Wilf and Donna.

"Don't you dare run off on me!" Donna yelled making her way to the TARDIS doors.

Wilf was standing there with a confused look on his face. Surely the Doctor wouldn't run off and just leave Donna here alone without even saying goodbye?

One door suddenly swung itself shut, while the Doctor tried to keep the other door open with all of his force.

"Don't you run away!" Donna yelled again.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said as he tried to reach out to Donna knowing that he had to stay inside the TARDIS. "Grab my hand."

Donna was really confused. Why did the TARDIS want to dematerialise without her. She kept running toward the TARDIS but the wind rushing around it was pushing her back. She stretched out to the Doctor's hand, but the Doctor was going transparent with the TARDIS. The TARDIS finished dematerialising and left Donna behind.

The Doctor still had one door open and he was still staring outside the TARDIS. He looked around the space outside and it looked like they were in the vortex. The one time he ever saw the vortex with his bare eyes was when he looked into the Untempered Schism. It was so beautiful yet so terrifying. He tried to close the door but he couldn't take his eyes off it. He was suddenly aware of a noise out there. He listened a bit closer to see if he could tell what it was. 'One, Two, Three, Four!'

The noise made him jump back from the door and it swung shut. He turned around to see the Master awake and right behind him. "The drums…" he said a little awed.

"Don't worry, they aren't coming back," The Doctor said. He opened up his mind as listened to see if the Master was hearing them. But no, they were still the same as before.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. He added finding out why the drums were in the vortex to the bottom of his big list of things to do. Number 1. Go get some decent food this time.

**Author's note: I just reread this and realised i wrote 'jokingly serious', sorry if it doesn't really make sense**


	3. The Darkness

**Chapter 3**

**Spoilers: Last of The Time Lords, The Doctor's Daughter  
Characters: The Master, The Doctor, Jenny  
9 is set before 8, but read it in the order it is laid out. Please review.**

**7.**  
The TARDIS abruptly landed almost making the two Time Lords fall over. In fact the Master did fall over, he got knocked out and had the strangest dream, but the odd thing is that Time Lords don't dream, they only remember. He decided to ignore it and move on, it's probably just his crazy mind doing weird things.

The Doctor turned away from the screen and ran over to the Master to see if he was okay. "You all right?" he asked grabbing his hand and pulling him off the floor.

"Err, yeah," the Master replied and wiped his hand on his suit to get the Doctor germs off. "Where are we exactly?"

The doors swung open once again automatically. The Doctor looked over at them with a confused look on his face. "I guess it's where the TARDIS wants to land," he said. The Doctor walked towards the doors.

"So your wretched old ship decides to take us on a mystery tour, and your just happy to walk out without any precautions?" the Master asked with a sardonic look on his face.

"Of course. Where would be the adventure in us choosing every place to land, Kosch- Master?"

The Master knew what the Doctor was thinking. He was thinking that it was just going to be like they planned when they were children. They used to gaze up into the sky and watch the stars flicker, and see the planets rotating with their super Gallifreyan vision and dream about all the adventures they would go on what they escape that blasted rock. It sickened the Master that the Doctor would think that, but Koschei loved it. The Master tried to suffocate Koschei under the drums but since he was currently lacking most of them, it made it awfully hard.

"Fine, let's go," he said scornfully.

They both made their way to the exit and stepped outside into the urban atmosphere. "Aw this is brilliant!" the Doctor said looking around in wonder. "Thank you TARDIS!" he stroked the wood of his beloved police box.

The Doctor would be quite happy that the Master didn't stare at him in disgust, he wanted to, but he knew that would lower him down to the pathetic human's level. The Master knew how powerful the relationship between a Time Lord and his TARDIS can be. Maybe one day the TARDIS will finally accept the Master again. A thought suddenly occurred to him. What would happen if the Doctor picked up another little human to come travelling with them? He started to feel feelings of jealousy; no one is going to touch his Doctor. Wow that thought disgusted him as well, but Koschei agreed. It was the humans that took his Theta away in the first place. The Master could finally admit that something is worse than the drums, having a conscience known as Koschei.

"What's so great about this place?" he asked trying to cage his excitement inside him.

"Has the best food, see my TARDIS is not a wretched old ship, she got us to the most perfect place to get a good meal!" the Doctor replied proudly. "Ooh look at that!"

A man with a big food tray walked pass, on the tray there was a giant purple Cephalopod with what looked like blue seaweed as a side dish.

"Oh the joys of travelling with you, Doctor. We get to see giant Octopi chopped up and fed to us! You know sometimes I miss the vitamin tablet diets the academy put us on," the Master said mockingly.

"And they have bananas!" the Doctor pointed to tray of fruit ignoring the Master's sarcasm. "Oh, and pears," he then said sadly.

The Master couldn't help but smile at the fact that the Doctor still hates pears. He loved that little prank he pulled on him all those years ago. He gave him a pear, but not an ordinary pear; let's just say the pear may have been around for a very, very long time.

They were standing on an indoor street of a huge building on planet Mysomaliconlricoi that was also known to the universe as the home of the Foods Sphere. The Foods Sphere is a big dome, it was never known why it was called Sphere instead of Dome, but it had been named that for thousands of years, so nobody really complained. The Foods Sphere looked similar to a 21st century shopping center hundreds of years in the future. It had many corridors that lead to different types of restaurants all under the dome.

The Doctor locked the TARDIS door and took of down the hall with the Master following behind. "It's a bit bleak, don't you think?" the Doctor asked him. "Where's all the colour?"

"I believe we are in the classical restaurant section, you know all of those tablecloths, curtains, serviettes, seafood and celebrities," the Master said boringly.

"How do you know so much?" the Doctor asked raising an eyebrow.

"Being Minister of Defence and then Prime Minister of Great Brittan going to fancy restaurants is part of the job,"

"Might I just remind you, you were Prime Minister for one day, so it's nothing to really be proud of." By the look on the Doctor's face, the Master could tell that he doesn't like talking about the year that never was. Excellent!

"Oh but you know the truth don't you, Doctor? What was the amount of humans I decimated again, around 600million? The Earth's people always were complaining about over population, so I think I did a good job as Prime Minister!" he said happily. Now even Koschei has shut up. The Doctor looked over at him with something that could be described as hate. The Master wanted to smile evilly at him, but for no good reason at all he was feeling guilty so he just looked away.

The Doctor took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, oh Theta would never get to travel with Koschei like he always wanted to. They kept on walking down the hall until they got to a part that sold normal food that didn't originate from under the sea, but then again all Earth species do originate from a fish, so technically they could be eating fish descendents. The Doctor opened the door and stepped through into a normal café.

They went to sit down at a table and stare into menus so they didn't have to look at each other. An alien that looked like a giant piece of ham shaped into a humanoid came over to them. "Salutations, I am your waiter for this evening," the creature said in a happy voice. "I need to know what species you are so I can get you food for your dietary requirements."

The Master looked at the Doctor with raised eyebrows

"Err, human," the Doctor lied.

The drums in the Master's head just went a tad louder for about one second, but it still scared the Master to death. The drums used to get louder when he was mad, and the Doctor calling him a human would not help at all. He tried to calm down by taking really deep breaths.

The Doctor must have noticed this because he kept eying the Master suspiciously.

"We have many Earth foods on our menus as you can see, but if you wish to have food from another planet you may, I also need to know your names so we can keep you registered in our memory banks for your next visit to the Foods Sphere," the ham alien said.

"John Smith and Harold Saxon," the Doctor said knowing that it was not the time to go into the whole fact that their names are just the Doctor and the Master.

"Thank you, but I am really, really sorry for what I must do." The creature put turned its headset on and spoke into it. "They have arrived!"

Suddenly the walls of the café came crashing down and there were a bunch of Autons with their hands already converted into guns.

"Wow Doctor, I knew you made enemies where ever you go, but this must be record timing," the Master said.

The Autons were advancing on them and they backed into the last standing wall of the little café. The Doctor had a look on his face that the Master could tell he was thinking of an escape but wasn't very hopeful. The Master got another of his lovely, lifesaving, lazer screwdrivers out his pocket and shot the wall behind them, which disintegrated into pieces of dust. They jumped over the dust and other crumpled walls and ended up in another one of those never ending corridors.

"How did you make another one of them in the little time since we were on Earth?" the Doctor asked implying the screwdriver.

"My secret, and don't think your not going to get a very long talk from be about hypocrisy. You really, really hate things that kill people, and yet you stole my screwdriver and shot the Slab," the Master said while they were still running.

"How did you know about that? You were unconscious."

The Master's face suddenly became blank of all expression. He looked at the Doctor really confused. "I'm not entirely sure," he said without his playful tone he had been using earlier.

He suddenly heard the drums a little louder again but then they quietened down again. He seriously did not know how he knew that, it seemed as if it was part of his memories, but it wasn't.

The Doctor grabbed his arm and pulled him into another restaurant. This one resembled an ice-cream store from Earth, but instead of different flavoured ice creams it had different species guts. "I know I said I was hungry, but I have lost my appetite now," the Master said snidely.

"We have to get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor said fearfully.

"What have you gone to upset that Nestene Consciousness?

"That's the problem, I haven't. I don't even know why those Autons are after us and why they knew who we are when I didn't even say our real names."

"Oh Doctor, are you afraid of a bunch of Autons, use your amazing Time Lord Victorious powers are tell them to give it up or burn and then lets get something to eat, but definitely not here though."

"I'm not the Time Lord Victorious!" the Doctor suddenly yelled.

The Master couldn't help but feel happy that he got the Doctor mad, but good little Koschei was furious at himself. "Oh but you know the legends as well as I do. Shall I begin a little history lecture?"

"Don't you dare!" tears started to well up in the Doctor's eyes.

They both knew how bad the stories of the Time Lord Victorious were, and the Master instantly felt bad for what he had just done, but he couldn't bring himself to apologise. The Autons suddenly rushed into the room making many of the aliens who were happily eating alien intestines get up from their tables and scream. One creature that looked like a giant ant built a sticky barrier around it to hibernate why the disaster takes place. One giant Auton that looked like an oversized plastic dummy came closer to the two Time Lords and suddenly everything went black.

**8.**  
The Doctor awoke with a headache. He lied there with his eyes closed for a little while longer until his thoughts were clearer. It seemed like something was scattering his memories recently and making him not care about important things, like someone who he left behind. That thought immediately erased from his head and he opened his eyes.

He looked around the room he was in. It had silver walls and many thick power cords running everywhere it looked a bit like some kind of space ship. The Doctor stretched his mind out searching for hominess. He was aware that the TARDIS was somewhere near by but there was something else, another Time Lord! He almost hit his head because he once again forgot about the Master. Why did he keep forgetting? But also besides that there was another something else here. It had a slight Gallifrey feeling about it, but then again it didn't.

The Doctor stood up slowly still clutching his sore head. He turned around to find a short blond human with a huge smile on her face. Wait it wasn't a human, it was a half human half Time Lady. "Jenny? What? How can you be here?" the Doctor stuttered.

"It's good to see you again too," she said as she rapped her arms around him.

The Doctor pulled her back to get a good look at her. "I'm sorry, but you're dead!" he yelled a little too loud.

"Don't get your hopes up, Dad. Your confidence in me is very concerning; maybe if you had just waited a little bit longer before taking off, then you just might have realised that I semi-regenerated."

"Semi-regenerated?"

"Well that's what I'm calling it, it's when you sort of regenerate but your face stays the same, I was still in the first twenty four hours of my creation, so I could still heal myself!" she said cheerfully.

"Oh Jenny your brilliant! Just brilliant!" he said pulling her in for another hug. He suddenly pulled her back again. "Hold on, what happened with the Autons?"

"I believe they are still at the Foods Sphere, they may have retreated though."

"Then how did I get here?"

"Well I sensed your presents and I tried to teleport you here, but in the process you sort of blacked out."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at his daughter for rescuing her. "What about the TARDIS, how did you teleport it?"

"Turns out I'm a lot better at temporal engineering than I thought!"

"Jenny that's your fantastic Time Lord genes coming from me!" the Doctor boasted. "Where's the Master?"

"You're friend woke up a while ago, he doesn't look well, he keeps complaining about some kind of beat that was _awoken_ or something," Jenny said thinking it was so irrelevant.

"Awoken!" the Doctor yelled in fright. He ran out of the small room on the ship and entered the next room where he saw the Master banging his head on one of the metal walls to the beat of the drums. The Doctor ran over to him and pulled him back from the wall, there was a line of blood dripping down his face. "Oh Koschei," the Doctor said as he pulled him into a hug.

"It never leaves," the Master whispered. "It won't ever stop."

"It will, we will stop it together."

The Master looked at him with tears in his eyes. It wasn't right; Koschei was always the strong one supporting Theta when he was crying, not the other way around. "When? How can we stop it anyway! It's _un_stoppable! Why do I want it to stop anyway?" the Master challenged in an evil voice.

"Don't say that, we both know that you rather not be a slave to the drums!"

"I'm not a slave! Ooh new idea, instead of stopping the drums, how about I control it! Fitting, isn't it? The Master of the drums!"

The Doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing; he should really stop planning ahead. Before the Master got shot he had started planning how they would get to spend the rest of their lives together, but then his life ended. And now his back and he started planning their lives again… how is he back? The Doctor decided to dismiss that thought and deal with it later.

"Please, don't do this Koschei, you don't want the drums," he tried again.

"That's not my name. Koschei is dead. He died along time ago, and you should remember. Just leaving me alone with nothing but the drums to slowly drive me insane, but now I have realised, it's no longer insanity. I should treasure these drums, so many new possibilities!"

"I'll stop the drums, with or without your help!"

The Doctor suddenly dropped all of his psychic shields and bombarded the Master's head with his thoughts. In record braking time he searched his head for the drums and found them nearly everywhere, they were controlling the Master's every thought. He tried to get a visual image of what it looked like, and he saw the vortex. "But how?" the Doctor asked. "Whys the vortex in your head?" The image suddenly changed and it became a big dark pit of nothing. "Not the vortex, it's the void!"

The void tried to attack the Doctor and spread to his head, and it was working for a little while until Jenny started to help destroy it. The Master joined in despite of what he said before.

The Doctor's thoughts started to reorder them selves and for a few seconds he remembered everything he had been dismissing, but then they all fall out of the mental void.

**9.**  
Jenny had been searching for the Doctor for quite some time after her semi-regeneration. She had miraculously left the newly terra-formed planet with the dream of travelling the stars. After she saved a few planets from an evil sontaran war, sent a slitheen back to Raxicoricofallapatorius and visited the Doctor's pet planet, Earth, she started to realise how much she missed having another Time Lord around. And come to think of it, it is quite odd that he couldn't sense her existence and tell that she lived. Maybe he was getting forgetful with age.

Right now Jenny was driving her stolen spaceship near a planet called Mysomaliconlricoi, and it just so happens that she was feeling hungry. Suddenly something hit her awareness. She felt him! She could sense her father!

She inhaled a big breath of air and prepared to land her ship. The odd thing was is that she could also sense another creature like the Doctor, but he said that all the other Time Lords were dead, oh well.

One part of the dome that was weirdly called a _sphere _was beginning to open. The glass panels pushed back against each other and began to divide and overlap. Jenny smiled at the creativity of it. She drove the ship in the newly formed entrance, and opened the air lock door. She stepped out onto the Foods Sphere and looked around at the terrific sights. She could see all different types of food everywhere and she loved it, well who wouldn't love a planet full of food? But most importantly her dad was here, and she would finally get to be with another Time Lord again. But she had to admit that she isn't actually a full-blooded Time Lord. She may have two hearts, a transdimensional head to store all her brilliant thoughts in, and have minor telepathic powers but she actually has lots of humanness too. It must be because of the machine she was born from.

Jenny closed her eyes and tried to sense the TARDIS. She loved that Time Lords could communicate to TARDISs; it is just pure brilliance. Yes, Jenny was in a pretty brilliant mood today.

She finally established her connection with the TARDIS. The TARDIS could not really speak to her, but it could send emotions across the link. It seemed as if it was trying to tell her that something is wrong. The Doctor is in trouble!

Jenny ran out of the shipping area and kept running down the endless corridors. She arrived in a destroyed café, with many plastic dummies wearing aprons and other cooking gear. Luckily Jenny had brought her electric screwdriver she built a while ago. She aimed it had the huge light bulb in the middle of the roof. The electricity from the light then beamed down at all the plastic. The dummies started to melt, but then it was as if they were filled with some kind of energy beyond what Jenny's mind could comprehend.

They formed back into their original shape and started to chase after her. Jenny ran back down the hall to her ship as fast as she could. Bless her super fast running. The dummies were walking allot slower down the hall than her, because of their lack of bending joints.

She arrived back at the shipping room and opened the airlock door to climb inside her ship. She then ran to the controls and psychically linked up with the TARDIS to see if when she activated the teleport that the TARDIS would accept. She got a positive reply and began the teleportation process. It worked once again… brilliantly!

Jenny turned around to find the TARDIS right behind her. She tugged on the door, but then realised it was locked. "But how do I get a key?" she asked aloud.

The TARDIS's light kept flickering as if their was a war going on inside. Eventually the door swung open but with restraint. Jenny walked up to the screen that was conveniently there. But the problem was she couldn't read Gallifreyan. The symbols suddenly formed into English, and it was legible for Jenny. The screen showed a picture of different buttons on the TARDIS and she began to press them. She believed it was a way to teleport the Doctor here, because she could not use her teleporter due the fact that humanoid atoms tend to get mixed up along the way.

The Doctor appeared outside the TARDIS along with someone else, who must have been that other Time Lord Jenny could sense. The other Time Lord disappeared for a few seconds and then reformed. "That shouldn't be right," Jenny mused aloud.

Her last thoughts suddenly disappeared from her head and she walked outside of the TARDIS to find the two living Time Lords safe and sound lying on the floor of her ship.

The TARDIS was trying to tell Jenny something so she listened. It seemed as if it wanted her to run far away from this planet, and not to trust the TARDIS.

"Don't be silly," Jenny told it. "How can I do as you say, if you don't want me to trust you?"

The thoughts of not trusting the TARDIS fall to the back of Jenny's mind and she went over to her ship's controls and blasted the ship off into space.

Awhile later the unknown Time Lord began to awaken. Jenny runs over to him with excitement. His eyes instantly snap open and he sits up with a blank expression on her face. "Are you okay?" Jenny asks as sticks her hand up to help him up.

"I can here it," he whispered enigmatically. It almost sounded as if his voice was echoed by something greater than those present in the room. "I saw it… the vortex is the gateway, and now they're back…"

Jenny crouched down to sit on the ground in front of the Time Lord. "What's back?" she asked a little concerned. Clearly this guy is a friend of her fathers and she really doesn't want her father to loose another friend. Jenny started to realise that Martha and what was the other woman's name… Donna aren't here. She wondered what had happened to them, but then she dismissed that thought and got back to reality.

"The drums, the never ending drumbeat!" the Time Lord yelled with tears forming in his eyes.

"What beat? I can't hear anything," Jenny told him afraid of what was wrong with this man.

"The TARDIS teleported us here, it connected with the vortex, the vortex is the gateway to the void, and I saw it, the drums are in my head again! It's not fair, they never leave, never ever leave…"

The man kept talking as Jenny walked away. His eyes had a slight red tinge to them, and it looked as if there were swirls in them too. Jenny ran back to the TARDIS confused. "What do I do?" she asked in urgently.

'_Come closer…' _an evil voice whispered in her head. '_Listen to the drums, free us!'_

"What are you?" Jenny walked back into the corner of the room and ducked down under a table, she could see the darkness advancing on her.

_'Free us from our prison, free us now!' _the voice yelled, as the shadows came closer. _'You are a week Lower Being, and you can't stop us!'_

"Lower Being? What does that mean?"

Suddenly all the lights turned on and Jenny turned around to see the Doctor awake.


	4. Vortexes and Voids

**Chapter 4**

**Author's Note: This chapter is shorter than the others, and it has lots of dialog, but i guess i could say it's just building onto the actual plot of the story. Thanks to everyone who has put this story on favourites, story alert or reviewed. And please do review.  
References: the clangers comment is related to when the Master was locked in a cell at unit in The Sea Devils; he was watching the Clangers (cartoon about aliens) and he thought that they were an actual alien species and you most probably know where the Teletubbies comment comes from: Sound of Drums**

**10.**

John Lumic sat in his office still hooked up to his life support machine. He was originally planning to build his Cybermen in 2006, but due to his lack of workers he postponed it for a few years. He was currently talking to some of his Cybermen who were lined up in his zeppelin. He really hated that there aren't many zeppelins in the 2010 Earth sky, because it made him more visible, but soon it won't matter, because everyone will be too happy with their new metal bodies to complain.

"We will round up more of the homeless tonight," he said to them and he moved his breathing devise away from his face so he could speak to the people of the Steel Age.

Suddenly he could feel a psychic transmission entering his head. _'Who would have the technology to do this,'_ he wondered.

_'Listen to the drumming,' _the voice in his head commanded. _'Let us take control of the cybermen!'_

Drums were suddenly surrounding Lumic. "No, you will not destroy my only chance for survival!' he screamed at the drums. "And the survival of the human brain!"

_'Humans do not matter to us, you are a disease that infects this universe, to the furthest stretches of the universe, the humans are there. You are everywhere, and once we take control, we'll be sure to cure the universe of the disease!'_

The last thing Lumic felt was a horrible pain in his head as the beings began to take over his mind, and swash every atom in his body, while he was still awake.

The cybermen began to stare up to the sky and await orders from their new leaders. After they had their commands they started marching towards the intended targets.

**11.**

The Master was currently rugged up in blankets in his bed, trying to sleep away the horrible pain in his head. He really hated sleeping; it is so human, but sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of dignity to live. He leaned up off his bed and placed his feet on the floor. It was no use, sleeping just isn't easy for him. He got changed back into one of his stunning suits and exited his room. The Doctor and the blond odd one were leaning against the TARDIS console having a lovely chat. The Doctor had a big smile on his face as they were reminiscing their past adventures.

"Ah Master, you're awake!" the Doctor said gleefully as he saw him standing there with a tired look on his face. "Sleep well?

"What do you care?" the Master said boringly as he sat down on the metal flooring. Why did that human-like girl make him feel jealous? It's probably because she is getting all the attention, definitely nothing else.

"This is Jenny," the Doctor said gesturing to the blond and ignoring the Master snide remark.

Jenny smiled kindly at the Master but he didn't even care how much she smiles, because she doesn't seem right. He inhaled a breath of air and caught an overdose of Timelordiness, must be the Doctor and that Jenny girl, but their was also some horrid humanness about her too. "Who's she?" he asked still feeling really defensive for no reason.

"Jenny is my daughter…" the Doctor started to say.

"What? Since when!" the Master asked a little too loud.

"Well she's more like a clone-kind-of-thing…"

"Thing!" Jenny yelled with her stupid girly little voice. "I think you mean person!"

"Yes, _person_. Now back to the point. I sort of landed on a planet and these soldiers were accusing me of having clean hands, and I said, 'what's wrong with having clean hands?' and then they took a blood sample from me and began to manufacture a living, breathing, _person _out of my DNA, and there's Jenny! Then Jenny got shot and she died, or so I thought. Coz it turns out she's alive!"

The Master rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I can see that."

"Now enough about Jenny, more about you! How are you feeling? Any better?"

"I've still got a killer headache, nothing new."

"Drums?"

He closed his eyes and tried to search for the drums and the void. "Nope, nothing there," he said automatically.

Jenny's eyes suddenly widened. "Doctor, back when you were sleeping it felt like something was playing with my thoughts," she said once again in her stupid voice.

"Yeah, I've felt it too," the Doctor replied while lost in thought.

Jenny and the Doctor both closed their eyes and tried to listen to the feeling that kept telling to forget stuff.

The Master was just standing in the distance looking at the two of them confused. "I hardly think this is a time for meditation," he interrupted.

Both of their eyes suddenly snapped open, and the Doctor looked over at the centre of the TARDIS. "What's wrong with you, girl?" he asked her. "Why shouldn't we trust you?"

The time rotor began to move in response to his question.

"Are we dematerialising?" Jenny asked suddenly panicked.

"Yeah, but I don't know why," the Doctor said a lot calmer than her.

"But we can't just leave my ship, what if I never find it again!"

"Oh yeah, that is a bit of a dilemma." The Doctor still wasn't that bothered, and that annoyed Jenny.

"What does it matter anyway?" the Master asked. "You can always get a new ship."

"But it's been my ship since I was born!"

"Yes it has been your ship since you were _created_. But it's not as if the ship will miss you."

"But I can't just leave it!" Jenny yelled, suddenly fuming at the Master.

"Your piece of metal isn't even slightly sentient, so no one will be crying tonight! Lets just leave it be, and go to where ever we are going!"

The Doctor jumped up from his spot against the TARDIS with a suddenly seriousness in his eyes. "Don't hypnotise her!" he said to the Master.

The Master rolled his eyes at the Doctor. "I wasn't hypnotising her, besides why would I need to hypnotise the little DNA replication?

"I'm not saying that _you _need to, but you were just then, I could feel it through our telepathic connection." The Doctor was staring at him as if he were a real doctor checking a patient for problems.

"Get out of my head," the Master ordered.

"And there it goes again, hypnotisation!"

"Doctor, I didn't. Just get out!"

"Nope!"

The Master was getting very annoyed with the Doctor. He couldn't even feel himself hypnotising, out of every Time Lord he had to be stuck with why does it have to be this lunatic! '_Get rid of him!_' a voice roared to the beat of the drums in his head.

Through their telepathic connection he sent the drums into the Doctor's head and he fell to the ground. The Master smiled as he increased the volume. Blood fell from the

Doctor's nose and dripped down his face. The Master walked towards the Doctor with a superior look on his face. "Fine, don't leave this Time Lord's head. But you will pay the price. We may even be able to make your role in our plans even more important if you give into the drums," he told the Doctor.

Jenny looked between the two Time Lords with confusion. "What are you doing Master!" she screamed.

The Master turned his head towards her. "Would the abomination like to join our song?" he asked. For some reason his voice sounded slightly different to himself, it sounded more powerful.

"Your not the Master are you?" Jenny asked.

"Of course not!" he found himself saying. "What gave it away?"

Jenny took a few stepped towards him. She looked too brave. "When the Doctor and I were talking, he spoke about you, well he spoke about the Master. And he may have done bad things, but he wouldn't actually try to kill the Doctor!"

"Ha! I've tried to kill the Doctor loads of times, and actually succeeded a few of the attempts!"

"That's the drums, not you Master!"

"Stop trying to invoke the Higher One!"

"Higher one? What is with you and heights! You are the thing, who talked to me through the TARDIS, aren't you?"

"I underestimated Lower species, your intelligence amazes me."

The Master's eyes began to swirl and Jenny felt herself falling through them. "Stop!" she cried out."

The Master only smiled evilly at her.

"Master, don't let it control you! Don't become the slave of the drumming!"

The TARDIS suddenly landed with a thump that made the two Time Lords and Half Time Lady fall over.

**12.**

The Doctor opened his eyes to find fire blazing around him. He quickly jumped up despite his horrible headache, opened a draw from the TARDIS wall, pulled out a fire extinguisher and sprayed it at the fire. The smoke died down and he could finally see what was around him. The Master and Jenny were lying on the floor not far from him. He bent down to check Jenny's pulse. It was beating to the normal Gallifreyan speed but slightly slower due to her humanness. He then ran over to the Master and checked his. Perfect. The normal beat of four.

He picked up his body and carried it to the Master's room. He then put security settings on the door in case the Void creature returned. The Doctor began to try to think about what just happened. The drumming or 'void creature' must have taken over the Master's mind, but the power from the TARDIS's crash had stopped the possession.

The Doctor walked back out to the control room and found Jenny awake and sitting on the ground with a contemplative look on her face. She also looked quite distressed, but who wouldn't after a psychic battle with the drums. He thought about asking if she is okay, but clearly she isn't.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," she answered knowing his unspoken question. "Just a bit startling isn't it? The drums can really take over a living being…" she asked it in a questioning manner.

"Are you saying you think the Master was doing this deliberately or his mad or something?" The Doctor practically yelled.

"Well obviously he is seriously disturbed."

"But just before you said that you knew he wouldn't do something like this!"

"Did I? I mustn't have, why would I? I don't even know him, or you for that matter."

"Cause you know me, are you sure your okay Jenny?"

Jenny stopped staring in the distance, blinked and looked at the Doctor. "You're just sticking up for him because you love him more than me! Well I guess it's normal, I'm your daughter who just happened to be born while landing on some planet, and he's your best friend from centuries ago who just happened to be completely insane! Please can we just dump him on some dilapidated old planet and travel the star together, Dad? He needs to be alone, lets leave him alone."

The Doctor stepped back from his daughter. "Alright, fine, sure! I'll just open the door and send the Master away, shall I?"

"Yes, yes, that's the idea! Just leave him alone. We don't need him."

"You may not know me too well, Jenny. But one thing for certain is that I know me, and due to the fact that you're a clone of me, well sort of, then that means I know you because you similar to me, and on my wonderful list of things I would never do right at the top of the list is ignore someone in need; the Master is in need. Next is never leave a friend alone; well I broke that promise years ago and it will never happen again! And another of these wonderful things is never ever hypnotise people if I can help it, and isn't it odd that you just happen to be braking all these three rules, wait, no, hold on, four rules. Rule number four that I recently just added is never under any circumstances shall I ever give into the drums, and if you haven't noticed your last two sentences were spoken four syllables per sentence, and your tapping your fingers to the beat of four. And what is your conclusion: here come the drums!"

Jenny's eyes began to swirl like the Master's were before. "The higher beings always manage to surprise me, but then again you were trained by our slave."

"I take it that the Master is your slave?"

"Yes, but don't expect us to tell you our plan or who we are!"

"Well actually since you started possessing Jenny you've told me just about all that I need to know."

Jenny's face suddenly went deadpan and her eyes stopped swirling. She began to fall to the ground so the Doctor ran over to catch her. "Dad?" she asked quietly. "I gave in… I'm so sorry."

"No it's okay, you didn't have a choice, just relax. I'll go check on the Master."

The Doctor left the console room and walked back to the Master's room. The Doctor swung the door open to find him sitting cross-legged on his bed and he had a blank look on his face.

"Master?" the Doctor asked getting no response. "Koschei?" he snapped out of it.

"Doctor," he acknowledged his existence.

"You're you?"

"As close to me as I'll ever be. I don't even know who I am. One minute I'm killing you and smiling about it and the next I feel terribly guilty and I know I should but I'd do it all over again if I could… no wait plans have changed… now I'm feeling a really uncomfortable urge to be near you," the Master looked up at the Doctor in disgust. "What is wrong with me? Why are the drums changing their all so unpersuasive plan?"

"I Just had a chat with your drums…"

"What? How?"

"Well they attacked Jenny and spoke to me. They're planning to include me in their plans."

"No, I won't let them! They have already taken me away from you once, and your not going to die because of me!"

"Never mind, forget it. We have planets to visits!"

"Why do you keep doing that? Just dismissing everything?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You just said we were just going to shove the drums under the carpet and continue travelling. You would usually want to look in my head and find out why random aliens are chasing us."

The Doctor blinked and his eyebrows creased in confusion. "Your right… something is going on…"

"It's obviously the drums!"

"Yeah, but also the TARDIS and… the other thing I keep forgetting."

"Which is?"

A ring tone suddenly went off and the Time Lords jumped in fright. "Is that a mobile phone?" the Master asked.

"Yes, err where is it?" the Doctor mumbled as he ran out of the Master's room.

The Master reluctantly followed. "And let me guess, having a mobile is not domestic?" he said sarcastically.

"Correctamundo! Oh no."

"What is it now?"

"I promised myself I would never use that word again."

"Oh yeah, and your word really does mean something."

The Doctor looked at him rebukingly. "Don't."

The Master smiled at the fact that he had hurt the poor Doctor's feelings, but then the drums increased in his head. He gripped is forehead in pain.

"What's wrong!" the Doctor asked as he searched for his missing mobile.

"It's bad enough having you telling me off, but the drums too? Forget the Time War, this is hell!"

The Doctor found the phone and raised it in triumph before pressing the 'talk' button. "Hmm how do I answer a phone…" he wondered aloud.

"Say your name or something," the Master suggested.

"You have reached the Doctor's phone."

_'Doctor I don't have time. They're everywhere!' _the voice of Martha Jones came through the phone.

"What's everywhere, when?" The Doctor replied in a panicked tone.

_'Well I didn't know what to do, so I called UNIT but they are a little tied up, and by tied up I mean literally tied up. So then I called Torchwood and Jack said he had a plan, but it failed. But then he got a new plan and he told me he needs your help so he told me to call you and tell you to come to Cardiff 16th October 2010."_

"Martha, calm down. Just tell me what is it?" the Doctor tried to sound reassuring.

"Oh wonderful we better pop down and visit her to play a game of hospitals again! Ooh I wanna being an evil Doctor who decides all his colleagues live too dramatic lives so they should all be dissected and probed! Why is it that people in hospitals are so problematic, funny that. In the months that I was on Earth you wouldn't believe how many hospital programs I saw on TV, I think you may have cursed yourself at your naming ceremony, Doctor," The Master said from the other side of the TARDIS.

"Well I'm sure hospitals are better than Teletubby Land," the Doctor replied.

"Don't you dare pay out the Teletubbies!"

"Fine, what about The Clangers." The Doctor smiled teasingly.

"How did you know about that? Damn UNIT!"

_'Uh Doctor? You there?' _Martha asked trying to get the Doctor's attention.

"Yeah, sorry. So what's wrong?" he asked.

_'Jack called them Cybermen.'_

The Doctor's eyes widened fearfully. He was glad in wasn't another Dalek invasion; the Master would never be able to deal with seeing them again so close after the Time War. But Cybermen are pretty bad too. "I'll be there. Thanks Martha," he finally said as he pressed the 'end' button on the phone.

The Master came running over to the Doctor with a fake happy look on his face. "Yay, we get to visit the Interesting-World-Saving-Martha-Jones! Oh Doctor I just can't wait to have some fun with the humans! Maybe we can pick one up and take it bouncing around time with us!" he said sarcastically.

"No, actually we aren't visiting Martha, sorry to disappoint you. We're going for a trip to Cardiff!" the Doctor replied excitingly.

"The place with the time rift? Why there exactly?"

"Jack needs help, Torchwood base is there."

"Captain Freak wants our help, oh I bet he'll be glad to see me there!"

"Come on."

The Doctor started flicking switches on the TARDIS while the Master sat back against a coral-like figure with a jealous look on his face. The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver and buzzed it at the TARDIS.

"You gonna help me out, or just sit back there?" he asked the Master.

The Master jumped off his piece of coral with an excited look on his face. They both began to navigate the TARDIS to 21st century Cardiff.

The Doctor couldn't help but smile about how excited the Master was to drive the TARDIS. Driving a TARDIS again is probably is a good way of healing after loosing everything in the Last Great Time War. It probably made him feel more Time Lord.

The TARDIS landed with a bang and the Time Lords walked towards the door. The Doctor opened the door and stepped out first with the Master following behind him. The TARDIS was parked outside the water tower on the Torchwood perception-filtered elevator. Cardiff didn't look that different from the last time the Doctor had landed here dropping Jack off after the year that never was.

He walked over to a park bench with a newspaper on it. It read '16th of October' on it. "Correct date, I knew it was just your driving that is horrible. When I drive I always get it right!" the Master bragged.

The Doctor ignored his comment and went to stand back on the elevator and the Master followed him. "Down we go!" he said as he soniced the lift.

It went down slowly as they entered the Torchwood hub. "They built a rift manipulator!" the Doctor yelled. "Do they even know how to control it?"

The lift landed on the floor and they stepped off. "Help me get the TARDIS off, would you?" the Doctor asked.

They amazingly picked the TARDIS off the lift and placed it down on the floor using their inhuman strength.

"Hello?" the Doctor's voice echoed. "Jack?"

The Time Lords used their mind clocks to know that it was midnight so the Doctor began to doubt if anyone would be there. They suddenly heard some clattering and then jack ran in the room holding a gun and pointing it at them. "Doctor?" he asked as he saw him and the TARDIS.

"Captain," the Doctor acknowledged him.

It seemed to much like the last time they met, but to make it even worse Jack spotted the Master. "No! No, no, no, no!" he said. He raised his gun again and shot the Master.


	5. The Knocking

**Chapter 5**

**Author's Note: This chapter is a bit longer than the others, and although it might seem like the last chapter, it is not. And thank you very very much to the reviewers, alerters, and favouriters. (and no, 'favouriters' is not a real word)  
I am a disclaimer, i don't own Doctor Who and there is a high probability that i never ever will. But nothing is impossible.**

**13.**

It was like fire, ice and water, burning, melting into one and then splitting apart. He knew he had to light the fire to stop the ice, but the water was trying to fix it. The Master knew what it was like to die, for he had died many times, but never like this. It felt like each cell in his body wanted to go a different way, but something kept pulling him together. He wanted peace after all these years, but since when has he gotten what he wants? Life is painful, but death is worse.

The Master always tried to avoid death, even running away from the greatest war in the history of the universe, but then again he did go back and fight for the planet he hates. But he doesn't really hate the planet; he loved running through those amazing red fields that stretched out for miles under the hot rays of the twin suns. He and the Doctor used to run across those fields all day until the academy started pressuring the young Gallifreyans even more. His father had always wanted him to get into politics, but he probably wasn't thinking Earth politics, and not to mention committing genocide. But the Doctor's parents probably didn't expect him to kill billions of Time Lords for that matter either. Why does everything come back to the Doctor?

Every atom in the Master's body wanted to die. But why won't he? The drums were pounding so hard he could barely make out the cries of the Doctor beside him. "Don't do this again, please don't! Just regenerate!" he screamed with tears running down his face.

How do you regenerate again? The Master was beginning to slowly die that he started forgetting how to do normal things. "Doctor!" he cried out.

"Master!" the Doctor replied.

The Master always loved it when the Doctor said his name, but he knew that the Doctor never meant it. The Master of nothing, how fitting. That stupid Harkness leaned over the Doctor to get a better look at the Master. "I'm so sorry, Doctor. I just acted out of impulse. Waking up to see him isn't exactly calming. I saw him and I just shot, I'm so sorry!" he cried.

The Master so wanted to choke Jack right now. He shot the Doctor's best friend; you can't just apologise and make everything better. The Doctor's best friend, the Master liked thinking that. He thought he lost the Doctor years ago, but now everything is perfect. Well besides the whole void creature, and aliens chasing them, oh and not to mention that he is dying! Dying? Well the way to stop the dying which is the ice is to light it on fire and make water, by regenerating. But it was melting already, so maybe he didn't need to melt, but why? He had to regenerate every other time, what is different about now. '_It's because your time has come!' _the void creature or what ever it is shouted.

What's so special about now? The drumming started when he was eight years old, but it kept getting louder and louder as time went on. The Master worked with the drumming by destroying things, and it worked with him by… well it never did anything that great, well besides make him Master of the Universe, but it did something a whole lot worse. It made him loose everything he ever cherished.

The Master opened his eyes to find that the Doctor abandoned him and he was over with Jack having a quite serious chat. He decided he should go back into the TARDIS to stock up on Artron energy. He stood up and tried to make his way back to the TARDIS only to fall to the ground again at the sound of the drums. He saw the Doctor rush over to him with a shocked look on his face, and then saw Jack looking confused and last of all saw darkness.

The darkness turned into a bright light and then faded and he could see his surroundings again. He was still in the same regeneration, but in a completely different place. This place looked like some kind of abandoned moon. He inhaled the air and caught traces of oxygen; good that covers the breathing problem. There was also a lot of helium in the air, thank Rassilon he's not some ape primitive so his voice won't go squeaky like theirs in this much helium.

The Master stood up to get a better look at everything. There was nothing but rocks and rubble, but in the distance he could see something that looked like a round mirror… or maybe some kind of gap in the fabric of reality holding all of time and space, like the untempered schism. He walked towards it hearing the hypnotic sound of the drums. No wonder he was always so good at hypnosis, it's obviously because that drumbeat.

**14.**

The Master was dying; all because of that stupid freak Captain Jack Harkness. The Doctor had many friends on Earth and other planets but he was once again going to be alone. Sarah-Jane said he had the biggest family on Earth, but he doesn't. He really has no one and now he will be so very alone again. He wanted to kill that freak one-hundred-thousand times. But it wasn't only because he is the last of his species again, it's because his best friend is now almost dead. The Master was going to get better again, but now Jack destroyed that chance. "I'm so so sorry!" Jack kept apologising. "But can't he just regenerate anyway?"

"No I've secretly been measuring his Artron levels since I found him. He must have been in the Time War from beginning to just before the end. Daleks tried to steal the Time Lords secret weapon, which was their regeneration ability. The Daleks used to drain the Time Lords of their regenerations during the war. The Master needed to be in the TARDIS restore on Artron Energy before his next regeneration, but it's too late now. So yes, Jack! He can't regenerate!" the Doctor cried out.

Jack walked over to the Doctor and tried to comfort him, but he got thrown off. The Doctor kneeled back down next to the Master and held his hand as he died. The Doctor could feel his presence slowly leaving until there was nothing left. He then stood up and walked back over to Jack and really wanted to burn him! He suddenly felt the Master's presents spring back to life and then stretch across time until he was almost too far to sense. "What!" the Doctor asked nothing. He then repeated 'what' a few more times and then unlocked his TARDIS and ran to the screen.

Jack followed him inside with no expression on his face. He was probably pleased. The Doctor read the fast moving Gallifreyan symbols on the screen. In indicated that the Master had time travelled thousands of years in the past. "But how is that possible?" he asked the TARDIS.

She tried to reply but something was over powering her. The time rotor began to move and the doors swung shut.

"Doctor?" Jack asked stupidly. Why can't the freak just shut up, leave and take his wrongness with him? Wow the Doctor was starting to think like the Master.

Jenny came stumbling down the corridors as the TARDIS dematerialised. "What's going on? Who's this?" she said gesturing to Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness of Team Torchwood. And you are?" Jack tried to sound flirty.

"Jenny of Team TARDIS," Jenny joked while checking Jack out.

"Don't you dare hit on my daughter, Jack!" the Doctor yelled while running around the controls.

"Daughter? Since when?" Jack asked sounding like the Doctor had just had just cheated on him. Stupid Jack. The Doctor would never take advantage of a human, let alone date a freak.

"Genetic Duplicator Devise, long story. Now shut up and don't move!"

"Why?" Jack asked slightly hurt that the Doctor had yelled at him. Didn't he understand that he had just sent the Master to his doom?

"Because I don't want you to! Do I have to have a reason?"

"What's gotten into you, Doc?"

"Shut up! You will obey me!"

Now he is really sounding like the Master.

"Err Dad?" Jenny asked backing away from him slowly. "I don't mean to freak you out, but your eyes are sort of going all swirly like the Master's were before."

Now the Lower Being wants to join in the fight too? "Lower One, and Fixated One! We have gathered here for the freeing of the Ancient Ones!" the Doctor found himself yelling. The TARDIS doors swung open and the Doctor strutted over towards it. "Come and face the demons as they take over your week minds!"

"How do we stop the eyes?" Jack asked.

"I don't know!" Jenny replied panicked. "The Doctor and the Master usually start specking in their language or telepathically communicate."

"Well that's no use!"

"I will release this Higher Beings mind once you follow me!" the Doctor's voice said.

"Come on, Jenny," Jack said as they strode out the doors.

Once they got outside the Doctor fell back and Jack caught him. "Get off me," he ordered as he wiped the freak germs off his coat and onto a cyberman standing nearby.

"And no thank you?" Jack asked indignantly. The Doctor, Jenny and Jack suddenly realised what the Doctor had wiped the Jack germs on. All of their eyes widened. "But how can they be here! This looks like the whole fleet!"

"But no one should have the power to bend time around the cybermen! What did I say back there?" the Doctor asked them. "Demons! What are demons?"

"The Ancient Beings are our Master's!" the cyberman currently having Jack's germs on it said. "You will come."

The cybermen began to march them in the direction of where ever they were going.

"You said early that the demons, will be freed. Free from what?" Jenny asked the Doctor.

The Doctor gave her the 'you just dribbled down your shirt' look. "I don't know why I said it. If you haven't noticed I wasn't exactly in control of my body," he said.

"Okay no need to take it out on us," Jack said.

"_Please_ Jack, just _please_ shut up," the Doctor then said kindly.

"Thanks Doc," Jack replied with a fake smile.

Drums suddenly erupted in the Doctor's head. "In the name of Rassilon, where the hell is that coming from?" the Doctor yelled aloud.

"What?" Jenny asked as they continued following the tinned people.

"The drums. Can't you hear them?"

"No."

The Doctor started feeling really sorry for all the times he never believed in the Master.

The planet was quite basic. It just looked like a big rock with little rocks all over it, nothing that special. The Doctor used his time senses to see what the year was. It was impossible. It was before the Dark Times. But no one had ever been before the Dark Times before.

The Master's consciousness suddenly bombarded the Doctor's head. _'So so dark, so alone… drums… never stop… alone, alone, alone… Doctor?' _the Master became aware of the Doctor's presence.

_'I'm here! I'm here! It's okay Koschei! Just stay where you are, and I'll come find you. Hold on, where are you?' _the Doctor spoke to him.

_'So dark, I can't see that well. I'm… well sort of chained up to a post staring right into the Untempered Schism.'_

_'How?'_

_'Cybermen teleported here and then just tied me to it. I believe that what ever placed the drums in my head is trying to reach me through the schism. The drums are so loud now. It hurts.' _The Master's head was filled with so much pain it almost made the Doctor physically react.

_'I know I can hear them too. The Ancient Beings, or demons, or whatever they are must have sent us back to this year because it is before the Time Lords made the Laws of Time. It must be easier for them to free themselves from the void in this year.'_

_'Do you think they are in a void ship, Thet'?'_

_'I don't know Kosch' but I'll be there soon. Just try not to let them through.'_

_'I'm not strong enough. I never was. They got to me when I was a child because I was too weak.'_

_'No one would have been able to fight them as a child. But we have 1,234 years on our side now.'_

_'1,234? Is it really that much? I thought you always told your companions that you were in your 900s?'_

The Doctor mentally laughed. _'Well if you met a creepy alien from out of space who was 905 you would be all right. But if he were in his one thousand two hundreds then that would be scary.'_

_'1, 2, 3 and 4, oh the irony!' _the Master thought melodramatically.

_'The cybermen are leading me to you now. Stay safe.'_

_'You do realise I'm staring into the gap in the fabric of reality that has haunted me for my entire life, and you just told me to stay safe?' _he asked sarcastically and then thought seriously. _'I will, Thet', see you soon.'_

The telepathic connection broke and the Doctor returned to reality. He looked around to see if much had changed, but it was all the same. Jack, Jenny and himself were still following the cybermen to the schism. They marched on for what seemed like hours until they got to a clearing. The ground was still covered in rubble and rocks, but there were different shades of blue luminously shifting and weaving together. The Doctor realised it was just the schism reflecting onto the ground. He looked up to see the Master tied to tree with cybermen guarding him.

The Doctor thought it was odd that the Master hadn't escaped already. Every single time someone had ever caught him he had always gotten away, but then the Doctor realised that he was in a hypnotic trance. The Untempered Schism must be tugging at the Master's mind really hard to keep his attention that long. The Master always had a short attention span as a child. No need to go down memory lane.

The Doctor realised that the demons were trying to distract the Doctor so he doesn't try to free the Master. Well tough.

He ran up to the tree that the Master was tied to and tried to sonic the tree to snap in half so the electric field chaining the Master would just fall right off. But then he remembered the sonic screwdriver doesn't do wood. Well thanks to Donna Noble he learnt there are other ways of defeating wood. The Doctor stared at the tree and realised it was really thin and old wood so if he kicked it, it would brake, so he did so.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, Donna Noble? Why had he been forgetting about Donna! Oh Founders of the Capitol! Why had he forgot? Must be the demons, but why would they want him to forget? What's so important about her? Oh Omega! She has a Time Lord brain!

The Doctor tried to ignore this for the time being and focus on what was important. And as he used to say 'there's no time like the present'. The Master got down on the ground and shot his lazer screwdriver at one of the cybermen. All of the cybermen were advancing on the two Time Lords. Jenny and Jack both got out their guns and started shooting the robots. The Doctor's sonic doesn't work on cybermen so luckly he had another of the Master's lazer screwdrivers in his pocket. He began to shoot cybermen as well.

The Untempered Schism began to swirl faster and faster. The Master turned his head and looked at it. It seemed as if he was going into some kind of trance-like state; he wouldn't take his eyes off it. The drums roared louder in the Doctor's head until he was on the ground trying to hold himself together. The last thing the Doctor saw was the exterior of a void ship.

**15.**

He had done it. He had given into the drums and now it was the end. There on that rusted old planet having a very small atmospheric shell stood the thing that would bring the end of time itself. It was a void ship, but it carried the beings that had haunted the Master for almost his entire existence.

The Master felt to the ground at the force of the void ship coming through the schism. He looked over at the Doctor who was also on the ground, but he had been knocked out. The Master then looked back at the giant bubble-like structure that had now came fully through into this reality. He had failed, and it was not good. He was the Master of all things, but yet he couldn't even sustain listening to the horrid drums. The Doctor had faith and him, and that was all that he thought mattered, but he had failed and now the universe will come to and end at the hands of the once so insignificant trouble-making child Koschei. But now he is a weak pathetic psychopathic sociopathic misanthropic megalomaniac Gallifreyan that can't even have the honour of calling himself a Time Lord anymore. What does it matter anyway? He never liked those stubborn sanctimonious sacrosanct Lords of Time anyway. Nothing matters anymore.

The Doctor seemed to have woken up again and now was looking around franticly until his eyes landed on the Master. The Master stared back feeling as if he failed his friend, but the Doctor didn't look mad like he thought he would. He just looked a little sad and disappointed. Maybe he knew that the Master's destiny was inevitable.

Different layers of the void ship began to fold back on each other, similar to the entrance at the Foods Sphere. By looking at the ship the Master could tell it was transdimensional. It was actually quite comical the way they came out. One demon's head rose out from the ship and he looked around at his surroundings. If the creature couldn't survive without oxygen then we he got out of the void ship his head would be out of the atmospheric shell and he would suffocate and die, if only. The creature had big horns on its head and its skin seemed to a short of pinkish brownish colour and was quite wrinkly. It looked as if it's eyes could see right into the Master's sole, but he got the feeling that it had for the last one thousand two hundred and thirty-four years. Humongous hands stretched out of the void ship and pushed the creature up into the air as it struggled to get out. Its claws were huge and a horrible yellow colour. It's feat then stepped out of the ship and it proved to be the most monstrously tall thing the Master had ever seen, it must have been at least three times the height of some of those buildings back in London.

The Master looked over at the other Time Lord to see that he too was freaked out by this terrible beast. Jack looked at it as though he recognised it from somewhere, probably one of those stupid Earth movies. Jenny looked like she could have died with fright.

"The chosen one has freed us from our everlasting prison!" the demon yelled in an ancient language that the TARDIS was having trouble translating. "Stay here Time Lord and stare into the vortex so you can sustain the link!"

The Master could barely stand there staring at it without running away in fear. It was almost as if he was in some weird kind of shock. He could barely move yet alone scream. He managed to pathetically shake his head to say that he didn't want to sustain the link.

The demon stared down at him with a callous expression on its difficult to read face. "You think you have a choice, Time Lord?" it laughed. "Good thing we made the last Time and Relative Dimension in Space bring the other Higher Being here."

The Master looked over at the doctor again. He honestly had no idea how he was going to get out of this one. "Why?" he managed to ask.

"All Time Lords are telepathically connected, when they are alone they are much more easy to manipulate."

"So you brought him here to kill, so I will be alone?" the Master asked the demon.

"No. We brought him here to help fulfil our deed. The power of time rested in the hands of two Higher Beings and two Lower Beings, if we eliminate them then there will be no chance for the universe!"

The Master's confidence started to grow a little bit. "And you think I want to go around saving the universe? It's obvious you're the thing that created the drumming in my head, so wouldn't you know everything about me? Wouldn't you know how many times I have tried to destroy this universe?" he yelled at it.

"Don't try to hide your fear in pitiful attempts to gain control in this conversation!"

"Why do you keep saying 'our' and 'we'?" the Doctor interjected into the discussion.

"There is more than just me, Higher Being. Every one of my race is in the void ship, and they will soon be free to walk along this world if the link continues to maintain."

The Doctor looked over at the Master with an idea forming behind his eyes. "Close it," he said. "Close the link!"

The Master shook his head sadly and continued to stare into the powerful swirl. "I can't," he replied. "It's too strong!"

"Yes you can! Koschei, you're the Master. You're supposed to be in control of everything, so why are you letting it control you!" he prompted.

"I can't Theta, I'm not Master of anything!"

"But Kosch, even at school you were better than everyone at everything. Who was the one who built then inter-dimensional-trans-replicator-proton-electron-devise? Who imploded the neurone-fluxion-transit-negation-rotator by developing a implosion-detection-automatic-sensitive-eliminator?"

The Master smiled at that. "Borusa was mad for weeks."

"Don't let it control you, even before the drums began to dominate you were still brilliant, all that's changed now is that you hold the key to save the universe."

"Saving it, now that is a big change," he sighed.

The Doctor could feel the Master consciousness get stronger as he began to force his mind at the Untempered Schism. The demon cried as it slowly closed. Jenny and Jack began to shoot at the demon, but it had no affect. He continued to cry so loud. The Master guessed that Time Lords weren't the only race that hated to be alone.

His mind fell into the schism and travelled through the vortex all the way to the void. The void was quite basic. It just looked like darkness, but with billions of demons, Daleks, Cybermen and other creatures that had been banished to the void.

"The High One has come!" a demon yelled. He looked rather similar to the other demon, but was a darker colour. His eyes were red and so compelling. "You will stop, Time Lord!"

The Master shook his head and looked smugly at the hideous beast. "So you are the ones that think you will return to the universe?" he rhetorically asked.

"Think? No we don't think, we know! We will return to the world of the living!"

The Master scoffed. "Yes, you're right. You certainly don't think! You clearly chose the wrong person to open the void. Did you really think I would just give into you? I know you have that hypnotic business going on, but come on! You seem to underestimate me."

The demon laughed evilly as his eyes glared into the Master's sole. "We have watched you since you were eight years old. We do not underestimate you, we know the full extent of your abilities."

The Master suddenly had a flashback. He could see himself standing at the schism staring into the raw power of time, and the whole of existence flickered across his eyes. He saw the brilliance of the universe, the grace and the beauty, but then he saw the most horrid thing ever. He could see the dark chasm of void and the terrifying creatures that lurked inside it. As mind explored the void drums started to guide him through it until he found the target. The demons howled in the darkness as they lunged at him. He tried to run away, but it was so compelling.

Ushas had laughed at Theta, when he had ran, but now Koschei knew why he had ran. It was horrible, and sickening the way these beasts claimed time as their own, but that was the Time Lords right, his right. These beats did not deserve power over time. He had to stop them from getting what they wanted, by ruling time himself, but they were always knocking on the walls of the void, wanting to get out, and waiting for him to give in. The knocking turned to banging and the banging turned into a rhythmic drumbeat that tormented him for the rest of his life.

The Master jumped back in shock of the horrifying flashback. But there was one thing he still needed to know.

"But why me?" he asked. "Why did you have to condemn me to this fate?"

Another demon stepped forward and towered over him. "Because you were the right age, you were just conveniently there when we needed someone."

The Master's face was now completely devoid of emotions, but on the inside he was screaming. Through his whole wasteful life he had been tormented by the knocking of the demons, and why? Not because he was special, not because he had the ability to become the ruler of the universe, it was because he was just there. Out of every single Gallifreyan they chose him, just like that. Since the moment he stared into the vortex he knew the power he held, but it wasn't his power, it was the demons. He must be average, normal, and regular. The Doctor was wrong, he will never ever be something special.

Billions of Time Lords to choose from and they just coincidently chose Koschei Oakdown of the Prydonian Academy. "Why?" he said, but it was more of a cry. "Why did you have to choose me out of every Time Lord… couldn't of anyone done it?"

"You always were a curious one, needing to know everything about the universe you believed you would one day rule. We needed a higher being with knowledge of time, we couldn't choose one of the Outsiders that lived outside the Citadel because we needed someone who would stare into the schism. We did have the option of any Time Lord through the whole of Time and Space, we even could have chosen Rassilon, Omega or the Other…"

"But would have caused massive time fluxiations through history!"

"And your one to talk. But then again, we are the ones that made you fluxiate time so many times. We just scanned the mind of ever Time Lord that looked into the vortex until we found one who would have had an enjoyable life." The demon laughed wickedly.

The Master looked very confused. "What do you mean? An enjoyable life?"

"We know you know how dull the life of a Time Lord is," a reddish demon spoke. "If we never chose you, then your life would have turned out perfectly. After graduation and your title ceremony you and the Doctor would have stolen the TARDIS and travelled time and space together, you would have been so happy!"

"So your intention was to choose someone and then destroy their life for your own enjoyment?" the Master yelled. He was completely disgusted. But then he began to think about it more. Meeting these demons was just like looking into a mirror. Mental mirror, certainly not physical, he's way too good looking to be compared to them. Even in death the Master still was incredibly vain about his looks.

He had loved bring pain to people at his own enjoyment so much you could call it sadism, but yet he was appalled at the demons for enjoying his pain.

"We could have chosen the Doctor," a moss green demon interrupted his thoughts. "But your initiation was before his, and we were tired of waiting."

The Master hadn't felt this much emotion in ages it was completely overwhelming. They just chose him because he was there… he was just there… just there… just because he happened to have a great possible future...

He wanted to break down and cry all of his overpowering emotions out until he died of crying. He just wanted to end it now. The drums grew louder and he knew that if he freed them it would be over. He really wanted to burst into tears, hah, how unlike himself. But he wasn't completely himself since he was eight years old.

He was really considering just falling to ground right there, but then another thought came to him. They had just said that they could have chosen the Doctor, and it was a very high possibility that they would have. They could have chosen his best friend, and destroyed his life instead. No one destroys Theta's life besides Koschei!

The Master stared back at the horrible demons he had been trying not to make eye contact with. "Oh wow, look at you standing all high and mighty! Trying to convince me that I am a sheep!" he spat at them with power in his voice.

"What's a sheep?" another demon asked interrogatively.

The Master rolled his eyes. "It's some idiotic Earth animal. Anyway, that's not the point. You seem to have chosen the wrong person for your salvation, did you ever think that when you gave me advanced psychic and compulsive powers, that I would use them against you. At the academy I always did wonder why I was so good at hypnotising, but now I know the _people_ who _gifted _me, and now I will destroy them!" Bloodlust was clear in the Master's eyes.

He stepped towards them with only one intent. He was going to kill everything single one of those terrible creatures.

"We are the creators of your whole universe! You can not stop us!" screamed one of the demons.

"We must get to the void ship!" another demon yelled. "If we can get to it, then it will guide us through to the universe!"

The demons began to all close their eyes and try to concentrate on telepathically forcing their way into the void ship. The Master summoned up every single bit of hate he held and forced it into the demons minds. The giant beasts began to fall to the ground as they cried out in pain.

"You will pay for this, Time Lord!" they all cried. "We will return one day!"

The Master smiled at his power and continued to slowly kill them all. The void ship that was materialising around them was beginning to fade. The drums kept getting louder and louder as the demons tried to fight the Master. It was almost too hard to go on. The drums were deafening now, he couldn't even hear his own thoughts. He began to fall to the ground just like the demons.

_'This is the end,' _the Master thought. _'Finally I can die and be at peace.'_

_'Don't be too sure!' _the demons roared in his mind. _'Unless you fully seal the void and cut off the drums, then we will always be in your mind, even in death!'_

He was never going to be free. There was no way to save himself let alone the universe. The Doctor suddenly materialised beside him.

"What?" he asked while looking up at him.

"Didn't think I was just going to let you die, did you?" the Doctor asked while smiling manically at his friend.

"But how'd you get here?"

"Anyone that is telepathically connected to _the chosen one_ can get through to the void."

The Doctor pulled the Master up from the ground and they both turned to face the horrid demons.

"Through my whole life!" the Master yelled at them. "You've cursed me with the drums! Destroying everything I could have had! And now it's time to end it!"

The drums got even louder and forced both of the Time Lords to the ground. The Master tried to keep forcing all his anger and hate on the demons but it wasn't enough.

"Don't you see, Koschei?" the Doctor asked. "It's not hate that will kill them, you can't kill evil with evil. It's good that will defeat them!" he yelled victoriously.

"Oh how cliché is that!" the Master yelled back but went along with it anyway.

The Time Lords began to think of all of their happy times together, every time they ran across those fields of red grass, to every time they blew up the science laboratories. They thought about each time one of them got the highest score in the class because of their ingenious minds. They thought about how they used to stare at the stars and dream of the future they wanted so badly. They thought of the future they will get to have once they defeat these demons; how they could finally be together again without any drums to stop them.

Every single demon began to fade out of existence and the happy memories of the Higher Being they had chosen killed them. "It's working Thet'!" the Master yelled happily to his best friend.

"It is!" the Doctor said as he jumped up with excitement.

And from that day on the demons were no more, and the Time Lords could have the future they always wanted. The universe would finally be at peace after so many struggles. The last children of Gallifrey had killed the creators of their universe, and had saved every single being out there… or had they?  
TBC

**AN: please do review.  
References: and why did Jack recognise the demon? Because of the one he saw in the Torchwood season 1 final. They are the same species. Another creature that is a demon is the one in The Satan Pit. **


	6. Fights and Farewells

**Chapter 6**

**Author's Note: This chapter is smaller and i think it seems a bit rushed. But i just wanted to skip ahead because i have something big planned.  
Warning: there is a tiny bit of slash: Jack and Ianto kiss, and that's about all, i don't want to put any slash dislikers off. I'm just wondering if you people like slash or not, because the Doctor and the Master's relationship is getting more intense, and i thinking about whether i should slash them or not? If i do, it won't be anything disturbing, more telepathic stuff than physical, but please do say, because i really don't know if i should or not.**

**16.**

His mind was at peace. No, more than that, his mind was silent. For the first time in his brilliant miserable life since he was eight years old his head was completely empty, with the exception of the TARDIS and the Doctor. There was not a single trace of any demons in his head and that made him smile. Well he would have smiled if he was controlling his body at the moment, but it seemed he had gone unconscious after the battle with the demons. Not to worry though, he was sure the Doctor would take good care of him.

As for Captain Freak, he may burn in the void. The Master hoped he had some how falling into the schism during the fight. He scanned the area with his mind and caught a trace of freakism, what a disappointment. If Jack had never shot him this would have never happened, but then again he would still be cursed with the drums and demons would still be chasing him, so maybe it's a good thing, but he'd never admit that aloud.

If he really wanted to think about the what ifs, then what about if he didn't get shot by Lucy and refuse to regenerate, well then the Doctor would be dead, and that would be thousands of times worse. What if he never opened the fob watch, well then he would have been trapped in a watch for the rest of his existence, oh the joy! What if he never got resurrected for the time war, well then he would be dead again. What if he never started possessing other peoples' bodies, then he would have been fried, dying, on his last regeneration and insane. What if he never heard the drums, then he would have been living his brilliant life with Theta, and be 100% sane, well maybe 50%, but same difference.

The Master tried to block out all of the alternate situations and focus of the present. His mind was currently rebuilding itself, since the drums had left and he had lots of spare room to think, but about what exactly? There was just so much space it was almost overwhelming.

He opened his eyes in what seemed like hours later to find the Doctor peering over him with a look that could only be described as relief. "Morning," the Master greeted him although he knew it wasn't the morning; they were in the TARDIS for Rassilon's sake.

"Hello," the Doctor smiled happily. He was almost bouncing up and down with excitement.

"How long was I out?" It must have been weeks, for the Doctor to be acting like this.

"Twenty four hours."

"Why are you so happy?" the Master leaned up against his pillow to get a better look at his fellow Time Lord.

"I know how much it annoys you when your not awake, but I looked in your head, and guess what?" the Doctor paused to add effect to his epic speech.

"Well spit it out."

"Notice any loud and terrifying noises in your head? No? The drums are gone!"

Although the Master obviously already knew, and that fact was one of the only things he had been thinking about for the past few hours, a big grin stretched out across his face. "The last time it has been this quiet, was when I was eight years old, so really I have no idea how I will be without them, I might start reverting back to like I was then. If I start acting like an eight year old, remember to inform me," he laughed.

The Master sat up and swung his legs to the side of his bed so the Doctor could sit on there with him. "It's going to be brilliant!" the Doctor said happily as he sat down. "Where would you like to go first?"

"Anywhere, it'll be like seeing everything for the first time, because this time I will not be planning one thousand ways to burn the whole planet to pieces."

"Yes. Are you hungry?"

"No idea, I am completely and utterly clueless right now."

"That's a worry."

"Yes, I'm starving."

They both stood up and headed towards the door. The Master suddenly realised that the Doctor had now withdrawn the mental connection between them and it made him sad. Without the drums he desperately wanted another Time Lord in his head to try to fill some of the space. He tried to stretch his mind to the Doctor's. The Doctor jumped back in shock a little, the Master could tell he had been expecting that he would become all embarrassed of their link they had before because he had a clear mind now. He sent positive emotions down the link to let the Doctor know that it was completely intentional, then the Doctor allowed the link.

_'Well this is different,' _the Doctor said in his mind.

_'We've done it hundreds of times before,' _the Master replied.

_'I just thought you wouldn't want to because…'_

_'I know, I'm in your head, I can see your thoughts.'_

_'We're a bit out of practise aren't we?' _the Doctor mentally laughed.

_'Yeah.'_

They continued down the hallway until they got to the kitchen. The Master walked up to a cupboard and pulled out a muesli bar, as if it was his own house. The Doctor was thinking that it was okay anyway, because this is their home now and it always should have been.

Jenny and Jack were sitting at a table drinking milkshakes and talking about the latest sonic blasters at the intergalactic markets. The Doctor seemed to be mad at the fact they were constantly talking and flirting all time, the Master just thought that Jenny could do better than date the freak, but then again Jack flirts with anything that breathes.

"The Master's all better now," the Doctor stated the obvious to his ignorant companions. "Hello?" they finally turned to look at him. "The Master's awake and I've fixed the TARDIS, so there's no use just staying here. How about we get you back to Torchwood, Jack?"

Jack looked slightly annoyed, but then he smiled his great big smile again. "Yeah, I don't know how my team are coping without me."

Jack then stood up, grabbed his coat off the back of his chair and moved towards the kitchen entrance. Jenny, the Doctor and the Master followed him to the console room.

The Doctor started to flick switches on the TARDIS and the Master happily joined in. Jenny and Jack gripped onto the console so they didn't fall over while the TARDIS materialised at Torchwood.

Thankfully it was parked inside this time. All the time travellers stepped out the TARDIS door to face two worried looking humans.

"Jack!" the dark haired lady said happily. She gave the freak a big hug and then stepped back.

The other guy who was standing there looking slightly nervous smiled at Jack. He was probably nervous because there were two great looking Time Lords and one all right looking half Time Lord standing around Captain Flirt With Anyone. The guy stepped towards Jack and pulled him in for a kiss. The Doctor was smiling at this; he was glad that Jack had a boyfriend so he wouldn't be getting together with his daughter.

_'If he changes his mind,' _the Master told him. _'I'll help you kill him.'_

The Master may be drum-less now, but it didn't decrease his hate for Jack. Jack and the other guy finally stopped kissing, and then looked at Jack wanting an explanation.

"Where have you been?" the woman asked him in an annoyed tone.

"How long has it been?" Jack asked while checking his vortex manipulator for the time.

"Two weeks," the man said. He picked up a cup of coffee off the bench and passed it to Jack.

In this short time the Master had already made a psychological profile on the two Torchwood members. The woman was some kind of caring person who was the 'heart of the team' kind of woman. She also thought of herself as second in command. The guy was clearly Jacks boyfriend, he was wearing a suit so that said that he worked with paperwork most of the time and he was the coffee maker. Team Torchwood looked just about as much fun as staring into an empty paint can.

"Well who are these people," the unnamed guy said.

"Right! Introductions," Jack said.

"Gwen, Ianto, this is the Doctor, Jenny and the Master. Doctor, Jenny, Master this is Gwen and Ianto."

"Yeah, we've met the Doctor," Gwen said while smiling at the Doctor.

How dare Jack name the Master last! Anyway, the Master tried to smile sinisterly at Ianto and Gwen. He had feared that he lost much of his evilness while cowering on the ancient rock planet.

"Hurt them and I'll shoot you again until you run out of regenerations!" Jack warned him.

The Master only looked innocently at him. "And I'm almost positive that the Doctor will approve."

"Well anyway," the Doctor said interrupting their oncoming argument. "We ought to be heading off now. You know worlds to save, people to help…"

"Puppies to rescue," the Master added sarcastically.

"Well it's been fun," Jack told the Doctor and Jenny without looking in the Master's direction. "But I've got my team and I have to… want to stay with them." He stared at his team affectionately.

"It will be so sad for you to leave us!" the Master cried melodramatically.

_'Go back inside the TARDIS,' _the Doctor ordered in his head.

_'Why, so you can snog him senseless while I'm gone,' _the Master replied, very annoyed.

_'No, Master, but what does it matter to you anyway."_

Koschei was hurt. The Master did not exactly love the Doctor romantically but he was jealous of Jack hanging around the Doctor. He previously decided that it was just the drums pulling the two Time Lords together, but maybe it was a little more. The Master tried to delve into the Doctor's thoughts. He almost smiled at what he heard. The Doctor only said it because he was annoyed with being accused of liking Jack.

_'Get out,' _the Doctor told him.

_'Nope, I'm pretty comfortable exactly where I am, thanks.'_

_'Fine, just get in the TARDIS.'_

The Master did so. He opened the TARDIS door and stepped inside, he then sat down on the jump seat and waited for the Doctor's return. The Doctor said a few more sentences to state that he was leaving, then Jack said something irrelevant and Jenny said bye, then the Time Lord and half Time Lord returned to the TARDIS.

"So where we off to next?" he asked optimistically, he was so glad the freak had finally left.

"Well…" Jenny began sadly. The Master could tell that the Doctor knew what was coming next. "I was kind of hoping you could drop be back off at my ship."

The Doctor's face fell although he already knew the news. "Yeah, yeah. Of course," he said not meeting her eyes.

"Thanks Dad, but you know I have to go back. It's been fun, but I need to. I can't keep travelling with you. When we were on the planet with the Hath, you taught me how to be brave and save worlds, but that's not what I want. Yesterday, it was too much. I want to see the universe, not save it. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine."

_'Aw more of the poor Doctor's patients are leaving him,' _the Master telepathically told him.

The Doctor severed their mental link leaving the Master staring at him madly. How dare he! So what if Jenny's leaving you don't need to shut out the only other member of your species in existence, because you're sad. His mind was so vacant now and so very empty, he felt as if he would drown in the darkness and emptiness. Why would the Doctor leap to something so drastic?

The Master turned around and headed towards his room. He needed some time alone.

"Bye Master," Jenny called out to him.

He just kept walking and slammed his door like a child having a tantrum. His eight-year-old persona was seeping through.

**17.**

The Doctor felt bad, but he hated it when the Master teased him about serious problems. Will the Master ever learn to care about people again? Why can't he show the tiniest bit of humanity and actually care that Jenny is leaving? The Doctor felt a horrible emptiness when the link was severed. Of course the Master wouldn't go back to being his best friend straight away, but it doesn't mean that he has to be so disrespectful.

He set the TARDIS controls to enter the vortex and head back to the air space near the Food's Sphere. He would be able to trace Jenny's ship and then send her out the door never to return again. Why does everyone leave him?

_'Koschei won't leave you,' _a little voice said in the back of his head.

"Shut up, Theta Sigma!"the Doctor replied accidently out loud.

Jenny stared at him confused.

"Sorry, after being alone for such a long time talking to myself happens naturally," he mumbled still not looking at her.

He went back to fixing the controls instead of battling his conscience. He pressed the tracking-blue-thingy and then twisted the landing-at-track-spot-yellow-orange-panel. The Master would no the names of all these controls, too bad they were having a fight. He was a bit harsh though wasn't he?

The TARDIS landed horribly. If only two Time Lords were flying it? He walked of to the door and swung it open. "Here we are, Jenny," he said gesturing to the interior of her ship. "Last stop."

Jenny awkwardly walked out of the TARDIS not knowing what to say. "Bye, I hope to see you soon," she said trying to be cheerful.

"Bye," the Doctor replied with a wave and a fake smile on his face.

He closed the door, walked back to the controls and dematerialised the TARDIS.

The Doctor could tell the TARDIS wasn't very happy through their psychic link. She wanted the Doctor to apologise to the Master and reconnect their minds, because she liked both of her Time Lords happy. The Doctor smiled at the thought of the TARDIS finally warming up to the Master. He began to walk down the corridors running his hand along the wall and occasionally skipping until he got to the Master's room. The TARDIS made the door swing open and the Doctor stepped inside the room.

The Master was sitting on his bed cross-legged with a blank expression on his face.

"Hi," the Doctor said breaking the silence. The Doctor tried to reach his mind out to the Master without forging the link. He could sense negative emotions around him but that was all. "I'm so sorry."

The Master merely glanced at him and then returned to staring at the portion of wall next to the Doctor. "It doesn't matter," he said dully. "Like you said earlier. What does it matter?"

The Doctor sat down on the bed beside the Master. "Of course it matters. I know how much it means to be one of the last of the Time Lords. I shouldn't have severed the link."

"I don't need your pathetic excuse for an apology. I don't wanna hear your thoughts anyway, just because we are the last, doesn't mean we have to like each other."

The Doctor wasn't very good at dealing with fights amongst friends, especially his own. A thought suddenly occurred to the Doctor, Donna Noble! He left her on Earth, alone and with a Time Lord brain, his Time Lord brain! He suddenly ran out of the Master's room and headed for the consol room. The Master got up from his bed and followed him boredly. "What now?" he asked in his depressing voice.

"Donna! She's on Earth!" the Doctor yelled as he started pumping pumps and twisting knobs.

The Master stood back and watched, probably in effort to annoy the Doctor. The TARDIS landed once again quite horribly. The Doctor went to the door opened it and stepped out onto an evening Chiswick street. The Master followed him out of the TARDIS still looking pretty miserable. "Allons-y!" the Doctor said trying to be gleeful.

He walked up to Donna's door and knocked one time. Donna's mother, Sylvia opened the door with a grumpy look on her face. Why is everyone so sad? "Hello!" the Doctor said cheerfully. "I'm looking for Donna."

"You!" Sylvia yelled as she yanked the Doctor by his sleeve inside the house. The Master stepped through the door and closed it casually. "How dare you come here! You think you're looking for Donna, well she's been searching the whole bloody universe for technology to pull your blue box here! And now here you are, you just turn up on my doorstep at three in the morning."

The Doctor was a bit confused to why the TARDIS would land at 3am; she was probably punishing him for not making up with the Master, how come she didn't punish the Master when he killed all of those humans? Well probably because he was dead, he paid the price.

"Ever since you came into my daughters life, it's been nothing but trouble. Wilf's been up every night searching the skies using his telescope for Donna! You take her back from killing the pepper pots, with no memory and then give her the memories back and take off again and then you just waltz into my house!" Sylvia continued to yell.

"I'd hardly call it waltzing, you just pulled me in here," the Doctor corrected.

He got one of the most terrifying death stares anyone had ever given him, so he shut up.

The front door suddenly opened and Donna walked in carrying many bags of metal tubing and a cassette player. Straight when she laid her eyes upon the Doctor the bags fell to the floor. "About time you showed up!" she cried as she ran to hug him. His bones almost broke at the pressure.

"Yes, nice to see you too, Donna," the Doctor said as he was released.

"Hello, Master," she then said to the Master who was staring at another wall thinking.

His eyes flickered to her and then he returned to his lovely excuse for not looking at them.

"He a bit grumpy?" Donna whispered to the Doctor behind her hand.

"Anyway, I have returned, and now we have a brain to fix," he said ignoring her question.

Donna's happiness left and she stared at him sadly. "But I wanna come with you."

"Look I'm sorry about before, Donna. But the TARDIS just decided to go somewhere so we never got to finish discussing this. You can't come with us and you know it."

"Delve into her mind, and assemble a psychic inhibitor in the compressor and over time it will destroy the interior until there is nothing left of it," the Master said absentmindedly.

"Oh Master, that's genius!" the Doctor said happily.

Donna smiled at the Master who was still unresponsive as the Doctor placed his fingertips on her temples. He could see a long corridor of thoughts and memories. He then came across a huge door and began to disassemble it using sheer force of will. The door fell of its hinges and the Doctor entered what looked like a big room full of his own memories. He made a psychic inhibitor that would stop Donna from looking into these memories. When a human did not think of certain memories after a period of time they would be forgotten, so these memories would be gone in no time. Pleased with himself the Doctor exited Donna's mind.

Donna fell back onto the settee and she went into a deep sleep while her mind healed. "Donna will be awake in anytime less than 24 hours," the Doctor told Sylvia.

"What did you do to her?" she replied a little mad. "What have you done to my Donna?"

"Exactly what the Master said. Built a psychic inhibitor. All my memories have been removed, and she's 100% Donna!" he said happily. "She'll be able to travel with me again, if she wants."

"No! I'm not letting my daughter go zooming around in space with a madman!"

"But what's fun about being sane?"

"Stop treating this like a joke! Donna had been so sad when you left, she could barely carry on, and now your just taking her away from me again like nothing ever happened!"

The door opened once again and Wilfred came inside carrying his telescope. "Doctor!" he said happily when he spotted him. "You came back! Donna can go with you again!"

"No she will not!"

"It's Donna's choice. She wants this."

"Oh fine then! Everyone take the Doctor's side, I'm going back to bed."

Sylvia walked back down the hall to her bedroom and became out of sight.

"I'm so glad you came back, Doctor. There were these big metal men here not so long ago and the whole town was terrified. Donna kept expecting you to turn up, but then they just disappeared," Wilf said.

"Oh yeah, that was me," the Doctor said. "Well me and the Master. They were searching for him, but they're gone now." The Doctor looked over at the Master who was still sitting down on a chair and staring into the distance. "Well be better be off now."

"With Donna?"

"Yeah. Definitely, no way we'd leave without her."

Wilf smiled at the Doctor as he put his disassembled telescope against the wall. "Thank you, Doctor," he said. "She can't bare to be stuck on Earth again."

"Yeah."

Donna began to stir slightly then she opened her eyes tiredly. "Doctor?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm here."

"I'm coming with you!" She got up from the settee and walked over to the door and hugged him. "I really get to go!"

"Course you do!" he replied. He turned around to the Master. "Come on."

The Master rose from the chair and headed toward the door. Donna hugged her granddad and yelled out bye to her mum.

"Come back and visit," Wilfred said.

"We will,"

They walked out the door, to the TARDIS. The Master hurried to his room so he didn't have to face the Doctor. Donna wondered over to the Doctor and asked. "So, do I get my old room back?" Donna asked.

"Oh yes, fine," the Doctor replied absentmindedly. He has to apologise to the Master again; they can't go on like this.

"What's wrong, Doctor?"

"No, nothings wrong. I'm fine, always fine."

"Doctor, just go on."

"Hmm, what?"

"Go to him."

"Nah, he just needs to be alone, now enough about us, more about you. How have you been, Donna Noble?"

"Fine. My life's been pretty basic. Mum and Granddad are happy, my mate Shaun is getting married to that bloody Nerys, and I still haven't found a job."

"Yes, Donna Noble, the noble, jobless, brilliant person!"

"Well I bet you've never had a job on Earth."

"Actually I did worked at UNIT for a bit, thought you would have known, because of my reputation over there."

"You? Working with soldiers that carry guns?"

The Doctor nodded his head ashamedly. "Guess who I saw recently?" he asked excitedly.

Donna smiled at the Doctor's now happy state. "Who?"

"Jenny!"

She stared at him confused and bewildered. "How?"

"She never died, instead she semi-regenerated."

"But I thought you could sense your people?"

"Yes, but no, the machine made Jenny half human so I couldn't sense her because the mental link of too weak."

The Doctor stood and held his hand out to Donna who obediently took it. They walked down the hallways until they got to Donna's room. She swung the door open to be greeted by her various objects she left there. "I never did get the chance to clean out," she said with a smile.

The Doctor exited Donna's room and continued to walk down the hall.

**Another Author's Note: please review, and also tell me if you think i should slash the Doctor and the Master. Thank you to all.**


	7. Survivors

**Chapter 7**

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who commented. I have decided to make the Doctor and the Master slashed in this story now. If you didn't want them to be slashed i hope you still continue to read this, because it's not going to be all about love (and i wouldn't really call it 'love', i'd call it 'i love you but i hate you'), as you can probably see if you read this whole chapter.  
**

**18.**

He kept walking until he once again passed the Master's room. _'Well might as well get this over with,' _the Doctor thought. He creaked the Master's door open to find an empty room. "Dammit!" he cursed. He didn't expect the Master to try to escape anymore. Why is he so unpredictable?

He exited the empty room and started his journey towards the console room to see if the Master was trying to land the TARDIS somewhere to escape. The TARDIS suddenly tried to urge him to go to sleep. He hasn't been taking the best care of his health recently, even though he is a Time Lord, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have to sleep. _'But the Master?' _the Doctor asked the TARDIS. _'He could be leaving me!'_

The TARDIS reassured him that the Master was fine, so he reluctantly entered his bedroom door that appeared in the wall. He flicked his light on and dropped on his bed feeling really tired. He suddenly heard a shifting noise by his bed. He then saw a dark shadow behind him. He turned around to find the Master behind him. "Oh hello," he said a little startled.

"Did you really think I could stay mad at you for that long?" the Master asked him.

"Well, err?" the Doctor said stupidly. He had a feeling that the Master was going to try to hurt him.

He stepped forward and climbed onto the confused Doctor's bed.

"Why the sudden change of hearts?" the Doctor asked warily.

"I should be the one apologising to you, I'm sorry I wasn't very nice to you when your friends were leaving."

Was the Doctor seriously hearing this? The Master was apologising without any sarcasm?

"That's very nice of you, Master," the Doctor said slightly mocking. If he is going to make a joke out of this, he might as well join in.

The Master looked at him a little infuriated. "Don't push it," he said.

The Doctor laughed. "I like it when you're mad."

"Oh really?" The Master said seductively. He pulled the Doctor off the bed by his tie and kissed him. "That mad enough for you," he said as he released him.

The Doctor was shocked that the Master would actually want to kiss him, when about ten minutes ago he was completely ignoring him. He desperately wanted to take advantage of this moment, but the Master seemed to be having a really emotional time, and for him to just abuse that is just not right. "No we can't," the Doctor said as the Master tried to lead them back onto the bed. "Not now, you're not thinking straight."

The Master smiled as he released the Doctor and just lied down on the bed by himself. "Fine have it your way," the Master said while he just lied there smiling. "Instead we can talk about feelings and apologise for irrelevant things."

"Don't do this to me," the Doctor sighed as he sat down on his bed next to the Master.

"Why not, it's fun! But I'd tell you what would be more fun…"

"I don't wanna hear."

"Your loss."

They sat there in silence for less than a minute until the Doctor finally gave up. He began to seek the Master's mind.

The Master smirked. "Couldn't keep away, could you?

Their telepathic link was re-established. The darkness was now filled with a wonderful purifying light. The two Time Lord locked lips as their minds converged. The emptiness was now flooding with light. Their minds tangled, stretched and meshed together until they didn't know who was doing what. The Doctor pulled the Master's jacket off and the Master practically broke his favourite tie, or was it the other way around? The Doctor began to forget which Time Lord he was as they finished removing clothes. _'Oh I've missed this, Koschei!' _the Doctor told the Master.

_'Your ability to talk and move at the same time astounds me,' _the Master replied. _'Now shut up, Theta.'_

_'Technically I'm not talking.'_

_'Stubborn as ever.'_

He had waited so long for this. Since the Master came back from the dead the Doctor wanted nothing but to do this with him, but he tried to ignore that over powering feeling, because he didn't want to destroy their newly reformed friendship. He tried so hard to deny his feelings, despite what went on in their childhood, but it was virtually impossible now. Their minds weaved together and they could no longer tell where one of them finished and the other began. Their heads touching one another as they explored each other's minds, and their bodies colliding and they made love in the last living TARDIS. They were no longer the Doctor and the Master or Theta and Koschei, they were halves of the same spirit finally reuniting with one another.

They no longer cared about anything besides each other. Everything else in the universe was completely irrelevant. The Master forgot about all the guilt he carried from taking the lives of so many, and the Doctor forgot about all the people he manipulated to take their own lives. They released their burdens and embraced in each other's love.

The last two children of Gallifrey spent the rest of their night in pure bliss.

**19.**

"The weapon is located in station three," Gamma Nu told his partner, Omicron.

Omicron moved towards the entrance to station three. The door granted him access so he entered the station.

The whole planet was covered in metal structures and was very boring; well to an emotionally effected being it would seem boring. The supreme council of New Planet were currently trying and succeeding in removing the emotional inhibitors on the New Planet inhabitants. The New Planetians were born with a disease that stopped them from feeling emotions and trapped them inside a hard shell.

Omicron made the weapon teleport to the ship that was departing New Planet by moonrise. He used his transmat-ray gun to do this. "The weapon was been transported safely," he told Gamma Nu.

Yuioki entered the room and evaluated the surroundings. All of his lower officers were doing their correct job, so he exited the station.

"What is the probability level that Yuioki will find out our plan?" Omicron asked.

Gamma Nu looked closer at his partner. Ever since the removal of their emotional inhibitors it as made each New Planetian have different skills. Omicron must be loosing the ability to calculate probabilities. "There is a 54% chance that we will succeed in our plan," Gamma Nu told him.

"Shouldn't we higher the odds?"

"We have no time. The universe will be ours in less than 24 hours! We will reform the universe into our image!"

A data script appeared in the seal. Omicron took a closer look at it. "It is from Ramidon," he said. "It reads 'we move in 12 hours'."

"Come on, Omicron we need to head back to the academy."

The two New Planetians, as they called themselves, went back to their sleeping chambers in the academy and dreamt or their dead leaders.

**20.**

"Oh get up would you, Doctor!" Donna yelled banging her fist on the Doctor's door.

Usually the Doctor was fixing things in the console room before she woke up, but he had been in his room for a very long time.

She heard some shuffling and then the Doctor opened the door. He was wearing a dressing gown rapped around his lanky body and his hair was a mess. "Aren't we going to go save some planet?" Donna asked him. She had gotten dressed long ago despite not knowing what the outside weather would be like at what ever planet they landed at. "Yeah, in a bit. Let me just get ready," he told her with a yawn.

He slammed the door shut and it hit Donna in the head. "Not very nice!" Donna told him and walked back down the hall to the console room.

Half an hour later the Doctor emerged from his room, with the Master. "Morning Donna!" the Doctor said brightly. "Where would you like to go?"

Donna looked a little confused and then understood why they were in the room together. Some automatic part of her brain told her what they probably would have been doing; it was probably left over from her Time Lord consciousness.

"Somewhere in the future," Donna said. "I'm getting quite bored of 21st century."

"What about the other 6billion people on Earth who are bored? Should we pick them up too?" the Master asked without thinking. He then had a look of regret on his face. The Doctor looked at him angrily.

"Anywhere particular?" the Doctor asked Donna.

Donna thought about it. "I don't mind."

"Right! Lets randomise the future settings!" the Doctor said happily as he began prancing around the TARDIS controls.

The Master joined in and Donna held onto the railing expecting a bumpy trip, but to her surprise it was quite a smooth landing. The Doctor swung the screen around and read the Gallifreyan script. He then jogged to the door and held the knob. "Some where in the future, around 51st century! Allons-y!" he said as he swung the door open with a creek.

The two Time Lords and human stepped out onto a dusty street. The people walking around were wearing robes and togas and other ancient garments. "Oh yeah, future all right," Donna said rolling her eyes at the Time Lords' horrible driving skills.

The Doctor looked around very confused. "But… but… we shouldn't be here."

"Maybe with his driving skills, we would have ended up here, but not mine," the Master said while closing his eyes and most probably trying to sense the time. "Ancient Rome, around the 32CE."

"Well maybe someone wanted us here," the Doctor said as he locked the TARDIS. "How about we find out who and why."

Donna, the Doctor and the Master walked up to a man selling marble. He was standing but a pillar with his cart and had sad look on his face. He suddenly smiled when he saw people walking up to him. "Are you looking to buy some marble?" he asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "No we're just passing by, I was wondering. How are the Gods doing? Are there any fiery people coming out of the ground? Any stone people?"

The man stared at them confused. "I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Never mind then," the Doctor began to turn around.

"Did you just speak of the Gods?"

The Doctor turned back to him. "Err yes."

"Can you help us?"

"Yes, what happened?"

The man looked around him for listening ears. "The Gods are punishing the good people," he said as if he was sharing a terrible secret.

Donna looked confused at him. "What do you mean? How can they punish people? Aren't they in the sky, or the heavens, or mount Olympus?" Donna didn't mean to sound a bit sacrilegious but it was quite confusing.

"Where have you three been?" the man asked. "The gods descended upon Earth one moon cycle ago!"

"We just arrived from Britannia today, so what's been going on with the Gods?"

"We were wrong about them. Their names were wrong and their personalities were wrong too. I'd go as so far to say, that they are completely different Gods all together."

Donna knew that Roman culture was a very big part of Earth history, and in the history books she read at school, not once did she hear anything like the God's descending upon Earth. "Well then who are your Gods now?" she asked.

"Rho Psi, Blodeuin, Wyaoun, Zeta, Delta Fluien, Ukilnao, Gamma Nu, Omicron, Dweflowe and Ghuoewi. They are the ten Gods from the heavens, but they call the heavens _space_, what is space?"

The Doctor stared at the man disbelievingly.

"What's wrong, Doctor?" Donna asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "But they are Gallifreyan names and words," he said very serious. "What is going on!"

Donna suddenly realised that the Master hadn't spoken for at least 30 seconds. She turned to see him staring into the distance with a horrified look on his face. "We need to leave," he said simply grabbing the Doctor by the arm and trying to pull him back inside the TARDIS.

"Not until I find out why this happening," the Doctor told him. He followed the Master's gaze to a statue of a peppershaker shaped thing.

"That's Lord Zeta in marble," the man said looking in the same direction.

"They never die!" the Master said madly. He looked at the statue in something similar to fear.

The Doctor looked back at the Master and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get through this, Master. If we just leave it doesn't make it go away," he told him.

The man suddenly raised his eyebrows at him in doubt. "Did you just call him Master?" he asked. "Then you must be the Doctor!"

The Doctor turned back to look at the man distrustfully. "How do you know that?" he asked suddenly even more confused

"Lord Gamma Nu told us of the ancient legends of New Planet. He spoke of the last two Old Planet survivors of the Temporal Battle. Are you the evil God's from the infernal Old Planet?"

"No, they are John Smith and Harold Saxon" Donna intercepted, the Doctor smiled gratefully at her.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm Donna Noble, am I one of your infamous Gods?" she asked sceptically.

"Lord Gamma Nu never spoke of any Donna Nobles. I must report Smith and Saxon to Lord Wyaoun, for speaking of the infernal ones!"

The man ran off while the two Time Lords were leaning against the TARDIS trying to cope. Why was there a statue of a Dalek? Why do their walking Gods have Gallifreyan names? Why do their Gods know the Doctor and the Master's titles?

"Well come on then," Donna said as she tried to get the Time Lord's attentions. "Aren't we going to stop the Daleks?"

The Doctor and the Master wore very similar expressions on their faces. The Master looked absolutely terrified but he was trying to cover it up by being angry, but he wasn't very good at it. The Doctor's face wore a mixture of hatred and horror, he was also very concerned for the Master.

"Yeah," the Doctor said quietly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he stood up straight and offered a hand to the Master.

The Master looked at his hand and then at the people around him. He shrugged and just took the hand; he was probably thinking something along the lines off 'who cares what these humans think.'

Donna smiled at her Time Lord buddies and they tried to bravely walk in the direction that the man they had encountered walked in, which was the way to the temple.

People walked around them going about their business, but some how them had slightly worried looks on their faces. Donna, the Doctor and the Master eventually arrived at the temple made out of mud bricks. It was quite confusing due to the fact that they are in Rome not Egypt. The so-called _Gods _must be changing the time lines.

"Do you have an appointment?" one of the guards asked them.

"Oh what do you think this is? A bloody hairdressers!" the Master yelled at him. "Let us in!"

The guard stared at him for five more seconds, then blinked and stepped to the side to let them into the entrance. The Doctor mustn't have cared that the Master used hypnosis on the guard, probably because he was too enraged from seeing the Dalek sculpture and too determined to find the Gods.

Inside the temple the walls were the same colour, but it had many red banners pinned onto the walls with circle writing that Donna guessed was Gallifreyan. The people who were walking around were quite scared of the Doctor, the Master and Donna. They kept staring at them in fright. "Some how I didn't think the Romans were this scared, aren't they supposed to be an all powerful race of dictators?" Donna asked the Time Lords.

"I can feel the time lines bending," the Doctor said.

They arrived at a big gold door with green vines weaving all through the patterns on the door.  
"Open it," the Master ordered the guards.

They slid the huge doors to the side and the Master, the Doctor and Donna entered. There was a rug, similar to the red carpet you would see at award ceremonies, leading up a few rows of stairs where three Daleks were standing. "Intruders!" a black Dalek wearing a red sheet around it that looked a bit like robes. The robe-like things had a symbol on them that looked like some kind of Celtic knot on them. The rest of the Daleks had the same red robes draped around them. One of them was black and the other white.

"Report your names, intruders?" the black Dalek ordered.

The Doctor smirked. "What no cry of 'exterminate'?" he asked. "No death threats?"

"I do not compute?" the white one said. "Explain your meaning."

The Master looked at the Daleks in disgust. "What is this!" he asked. "Why the hell are you trying to change yourselves into Time Lords? Is this some kind of mockery?"

The Daleks ignored them. "I am Lord Gamma Nu," the red one said. "This is Lord Omicron and Lord Zeta. We are the New Planetian Lords. State your names."

"No no no," the Doctor interrupted. "I don't get this, I don't get any of this. Why are you here? How on Gallifrey are you still alive?"

"What is New Planet?" Donna interrupted with curiosity despite the terrifying situation.

"New Planet was our home in space, but we left it long ago to rule over time, we are starting with Rome and then the world, and then the universe, and then all of time and space!" the white one, Zeta said. "Long ago we were just a humble race, the last survivors of the Temporal Battle. We live in respect for our enemies, the Old Planetians as we call them. After the Temporal Battle many of us forgot what happened in the war because of our memory circuits were damaged, but the Old Planetians had a computer called the matrix. It lasted the battle and we uploaded the information into our memories."

"You bastards! How dare you try to take everything Time Lord and twist it into a fucked up forged version of our culture!" the Master yelled.

"You said 'our culture'. You have identified yourself as a Time Lord."

"Damn right I am, and your nothing but a tin can of uncooked meat!"

"You have insulted us!" Omicron said panickly. "Insults are pointless. If you want to fight a battle you should have been there for the Temporal Battle."

The Master grabbed his lazer screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at the Dalek. "I was there! I fought the doomed war, already knowing the outcome, for the Time Lords, and to kill you lot!" he yelled.

The Master had his finger on the 'fire' button but the Doctor shook his head. "It's no use," he told him sadly. "If they really are living by Time Lord code, then we're playing by our own rules. They'll kill us if you attack."

The Doctor seemed allot calmer than the Master, but the sadness, anger and hatred was clear in his ancient eyes. Donna knew how dangerous Daleks were from her last experience with them, but it didn't stop her from feeling scared. Last time the Doctor had abandoned all hope at one stage, and now they were doing something that Donna presumed must be worse than moving planets, they were mocking the Doctor and the Master's race and trying to follow their races traditions to become lords of time.

"What the hell is a Planetian?" Donna asked as the thought occurred to her. "And why do you keep calling it the Temporal Battle, when it's called the Time War?"

Another Dalek that was silver rolled into the room from the entrance behind Donna, the Master and the Doctor.

"Welcome Lord Dweflowe," Zeta said. "I believe we have some Old Planetians in our presence."

"During the battle we lost records of the names of planets. The matrix was damaged, and it lost quite a lot of information, so we just decided to name our planet New Planet. But we have left New Planet now, to start an empire on Earth ruled by us!" the silver Dalek named Dweflowe said. "And we were not aware of that the name of the battle was the Time War. Thankyou for informing us, inferior one."

"Did you just call me _inferior one_? I am not inferior! I'll have you know that I wiped out the last Dalek fleet," Donna said.

The Doctor smiled at her bravery.

"Identify yourselves or we will have to result to other means of acquiring information," Dweflowe said.

"And what other means will that be?" the Doctor asked with the air of authority. He seemed to have gained some more courage. "By Time Lord law, any mental or physical attacks to gain knowledge from other people is against the law."

"But…" Dweflowe tried to say.

"Yes, yes, I know. It can be done but only if the Lord President has signed the warrant, and I'm just wandering, _New Planetians _who is your Lord President?" the Doctor asked smiling brightly at the Daleks.

"I am the Lord President!" said Gamma Nu.

"I am the most superior!" Omicron yelled.

Another black Dalek materialised at the top of the stairs. "Rho Psi is the supreme one," he said referring to himself.

The remaining five also materialised in various places around the room. The Daleks started to shout amongst themselves, they said many things like "Whyaon reign supreme," "I am the ruler," "Lord President is Delta Fluien," "Negative, Blodeuin is president," "Ghuoewi is your leader,"

Dweflowe pointed his ray gun at Gamma Nu and fired. All of the Daleks zoomed their eyepieces on Dweflowe. "You exterminated Gamma Nu!" Omicron cried. "Dweflowe will now be executed for killing one of his own kind!"

Omicron shot Dweflowe. There were two piles of ashes on the grown from the two exterminated Daleks.

"We must stop this at once!" Rho Psi shouted. "We can not reform our society with less than eight New Planetians!"

All the other Daleks shouted, "Agreed!"

The Master who had been silent for record time finally spoke up again, "Eight Daleks?" he asked. The Daleks stared at him with something that could be described as confusion. He laughed. "Only eight Daleks?" He looked over at the Doctor. "Eight fricken Daleks!" he said hysterically.

The Doctor also started laughing. Donna figured it must be a Time Lord thing. "Why are there only eight? What did they do? Keep shooting each other?" she joked.

The Doctor nodded. "Daleks," he yelled out to them.

They continued to talk amongst themselves.

"Oi Daleks!" they turned to look at him.

"You refer to us as Daleks," Whyoan stated. "You are Old Planetians with superior knowledge from before the 'Time War' as you call it. Will you share the knowledge?"

"First I have a question for you. How many of you were there before you culled your kind?"

"One billion," answered Delta Fluien. "We saw the error in our new ways, we tried to convince the others of it, but they wouldn't change the plans."

The Doctor stepped forward swinging his sonic screwdriver around and then pointed it at a big machine next to the Daleks that Donna hadn't noticed early. It's probably got some kind of perception filter on it. "Did you kill them with that?" the Doctor asked.

Blodion moved forward slightly. "Yes. Our original leader, who devised our grand plans, betrayed us. He used that word you said 'Daleks'. He said the Daleks should not be lowering to Time Lord standards. You call yourselves Time Lords. Your knowledge will be used." Blodion said.

"What happened to your leader?" the Master asked also with his head raised high like the Doctor. They have gained the high ground.

"He wanted to put our emotional inhibitors back in place, but if we are all the same then we would run out of new ideas, and the New Planetians will fall," Zeta informed. His ray gun and plunger twitched as though talking about this made him agitated. "We exterminated Ramidon, our leader, so our plans were ignored for a few years. The resistance then left New Planet and we burned the planet when were gone."

The Doctor's face fell. Talking about burning planets was probably bringing back more memories. "You burnt your planet," he mused sadly.

"No, your nothing like them," the Master told him with sincere honesty. "It was inevitable. If you didn't do it, someone else would have had to, but no one else could because they're not as brave as you. Unlike you lot!" the Master turned his attention to the Daleks. "You just burnt it because you didn't like the way the other Daleks lived. We had to live in hell for three hundred years, but we made it work." The Doctor and the Master smiled at each other for a brief second before continuing. "Well you just did the job for us anyway."

Rho Psi's eyepiece widened. "Your comment suggests hostility. Are you planning on burning the remaining _Daleks_?"

The doors suddenly opened and the man who was selling marble entered the room. "My Lords," he addressed the Daleks with fright. "I'm sorry for barging in here unaddressed but I met two people who spoke of the evil Gods. They were…" he trailed off as he realised that the Doctor and the Master were in their presence. "Oh! They're here!"

"We are aware of that, civilian," Rho Psi said. "You have interrupted our meeting. Leave."

The man looked nervously at the Daleks. "But I must inform you that the ones claiming to be John Smith and Harold Saxon," he said as he pointed at the Doctor and the Master. "Did actually mention the evil Gods' titles."

All of the Daleks turned to look back at the Time Lords. "You know of the Doctor and the Master!" they yelled in synchronisation.

"Obviously if they are currently existing they must be the Doctor and the Master, because they are reported as the last survivors of the planet we have now been informed is called Gallifrey," Zeta said.

"They will be restrained and put in the volts," Omicron yelled.

The Master smirked. "Like that's gonna happen." He shot Ghuoewi with his lazer screwdriver.

The Dalek disintegrated into dust.

"Oh now look what you've done!" the Doctor said quite annoyed.

All of the Daleks began to fire at them.

**Authors Note: If anyone is interested in what the names of the Daleks mean:  
Rho Psi, Zeta, Gamma Nu, Omicron- Greek letters  
Delta- Greek letter. Fluien- Flame in Gallifreyan  
Blodeiun- Flower in Gallifreyan  
Dweflowe- Water in Gallifreyan  
Whyaoun, Ukilnao, Ghuoewi, Yuioki, Ramidon- made up names**


	8. The Plan

**Chapter 8**

**Author's Note: here is chapter 8! i never thought i'd get this far. Originally it was going to be a one-shot just with the Doctor and the Master meeting again, but look how far i've gotten now. Thank you to my lovely reviewers where would i be without your great comments! Disclaimer: i don't own Doctor Who, do you?**

**21.**

The Master awoke in a dark place. His head really hurt from some kind of teleportation, the Daleks must have set their ray guns to transmat. Time and space travel is meant to be done in a Time Capsule. Stupid Daleks, don't know anything about time. The Master got out his lazer screwdriver at tried to make a glowing beam come out of it so he could see in the darkness, but he remembered that he forgot to add that setting. So then he pointed it towards the ceiling so it would search for light switches and turn the nearest light on.

The room brightened up and the Master realised that they were in a cell. It was quite basic really. He was quite happy it didn't have bars for everybody to watch in on him, but then again, bars would be a lot easier to remove. There was nothing in the cell at all besides him and a lump of cloth in the corner. Oh no, not a lump of cloth; it was the Doctor.

The Doctor stirred in his sleep as he began to awaken. "Morning," the Master acknowledged that it was the morning (humans tend to do that a lot, it's supposed to be a way of greeting people).

The Doctor opened his eyes and looked at the Master. "No it's night," he told him.

The Master shrugged. "I was just trying to welcome you back to the world after sleeping, I thought it might be nice to wish you 'morning', because your Earthlings are so fond of saying that."

The Doctor smirked. "I wonder if you'll ever stop surprising me?" he said. The Doctor looked around at his surroundings. The Master could sense his annoyance at the fact of being trapped in a box shaped cell with no door. "We're in a cell," he said as he soniced the wall for no good reason.

"They really should have an award for the person that states the obvious the most times in their lives."

"I'm sure if you try hard enough you might be able to convince the UAG to make that award."

"UAG?"

"Universial Award Givers."

"Honestly, the things these creatures across the galaxies come up with!"

"Don't worry Master, everyone will obey you one day," the Doctor said making fun of when the Master used to go around saying 'I am the Master, and you will obey me.'

"Ha ha," the Master replied in dry humour. "So have you devised a magical plan to free us from our bounds?"

"No not yet, how about you?"

"What was that I heard? The Doctor doesn't have a plan? Oh Rassilon help us!"

The Doctor smiled at his friend while the Master stood up off the floor and began to circle the small area they had been confined to. The Doctor then put his sonic back in his pocket and leant against the wall lost in thought. "Where's Donna?" he asked the Master like he would have known.

"I don't know. I only just woke up before you did. She could be anywhere."

"Why did they put us in a cell together?"

"They're probably listening to see if we start talking about the ancient legends of the holy Planet Gallifrey or currently renamed to _Old Planet_."

"I hate the name Old Planet. What kind of person calls a planet _Old Planet_?"

"Daleks of course."

"Speaking of which…" The Doctor said as a transmission just began to sound in their cell.

"Time Lords of Gallifrey. According to the ancient laws of Gallifrey, if a Time Lord disrupts the course of justice you must be locked in a cell for two hours. Sorry for the inconvenience but you have brought this upon yourselves," a Dalek said in his robotic voice.

"Thanks for apologising," the Master said sweetly as the transmission ended. "Well clearly they are listening."

"I'll stop that," the Doctor said as he once again got out his sonic screwdriver. He pressed the button as it caused some sparks to happen on the roof. "Just broke the speakers. And now we just have to wait for 2 hours," he said with despair.

"Oh the fun of it!"

The Time Lords slid back down the floor and leant against a wall in silence. "Do you have a mobile?" the Doctor asked.

"No, why would I?" the Master asked. "Who would want to call me?"

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Hmm…"

"Let's stop humming."

"Yes."

The Time Lords both knew that there was absolutely no possible way of getting out of the cell that was actually just a giant box with metal walls. "Well what do we do now?"

The Doctor shook his head. "For once I am completely stumped."

"Can't you call the TARDIS here or something?"

"Type 40, remember."

"Ah, so no teleport?"

"Nope."

After some more silence in which the Doctor and the Master kept trying to think of ways to escape the inescapable cell the Master stated, "We will stop the Daleks."

"Some how I don't think we can do it from within here."

"No… or can we?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Some how I don't think we're talking about the same thing anymore."

The Master half smiled. "Do you wanna find out?"

"In a cell? While the Daleks go about killing people?"

"People die all the time."

"Yeah I know, but…"

"Fine nevermind, if you don't want to I'm not going to force it upon you, I understand if it's Martha you want."

The Doctor scoffed. "Martha! Ew no way! She may have fancied me, but I would never. Ugh, I don't even want to think about that!"

The Master laughed. "Is that so? Well then maybe Donna. If I did have a mobile I could call her up and ask her if she will pleasure you."

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Or maybe is it that Rose girl you want? I'm sure she'd be a willing volunteer. Yeah, that must be who you want, a pathetic ape shop girl, excellent choice my dear Doctor."

"I don't want her. She was just there for me after the war. You're the one I want."

The Doctor grabbed the Master's head between his hands and pulled it toward his head. The connection between their minds grew. The Doctor pulled the Master back and then kissed him. He then released the Master and leant back against the wall catching his breath. The Master smiled happily. He always gets want he wants, and that didn't even involve hypnosis. It made the Master feel good, that he had the power over someone and he didn't even have to try.

The Master grabbed hold of the Doctor's head and kissed him again. Suddenly a section of the roof fell next to the Time Lords. They flinched back in surprise. Donna's head appeared from the hole in the roof. The Doctor and the Master untangled themselves and stood up to look at her embarrassingly. "The world is ending and all you can think about is kissing each other?" Donna asked disbelievingly. "I will never understand you alien boys."

She then threw down a metal latter and the Master climbed up it followed by the Doctor. When they reached the surface they realised that they were in the middle of some desert. What a great way to make sure the prisoners can't escape.

"Uh thanks Donna," the Doctor said nervously. He was bothered that Donna had walked in on them. Why does the Doctor have to care what these humans think of him?

"How did you get here?" the Master asked still looking around at the desert land surrounding their metal box. He thought the box was back in Rome with the Daleks, but it clearly wasn't.

"I drove one of the Dalek warp speed hover vehicles," Donna stated simply.

The Doctor turned to look at her seriously. "How did you manage to drive one?" he asked. "For a human to work out the security circuitry is imponderable, how on Gallifrey did you even manage to start it?

Donna shrugged like it wasn't a very big deal. "I didn't really know what I was doing to be honest. It's not working fully though. I had to drive it along the land instead of hovering, because I couldn't override all those stupid codes," she laughed.

"Must be some residual parts of my mind left over in your head," the Doctor mused. "It doesn't matter it'll fade away eventually." The Doctor turned to the Master. "Can you break the rest of the security codes on the Dalek hoverer with your amazing engineering skills?"

"How can I resist such a flattering request?" the Master said as he walked over to the other side of the prison where he found the hover vehicle. It just looked like a futuristic hovering car really.

"Oh you should have seen him in temporal engineering, Donna," the Doctor told her.

"Remember the time when we reversed the levels of gravity in the High-Gravity Room?" the Master asked him.

"Ah yes, that was when we were doing our assignment on High Gravity Transport. I believe the professors were actually using us to come up with new ideas for dematerialisation of TARDISs on Planets with high gravity. Remember how Ushas's project that was to convince the TARDIS's mind that it was on a low gravity planet to make the TARDIS think the dematerialisation would be simple, flew up and smashed against the ceiling!" The Doctor said excitingly.

"Oh and how Drax's anti-gravity machine that cancelled out the gravity around the teleport started floating around the classroom!" the Master said with the same enthusiasm.

"Err super smart Time Boys," Donna interrupted. "Aren't we trying to leave this desert?"

The Doctor looked around nervously while the Master smiled and continued fixing the hoverer. "Done!" he said victoriously.

_'See, sometimes you don't have to use your skills for evil,' _the Doctor told him also smiling now.

_'What would you rather I use them for,' _the Master replied.

The Time Lords and Donna got into the doors of the hoverer and the Master sat in the drivers seat. He started up the engine and the vehicle zoomed down the desert land at a really fast speed.

They arrived back in Rome after ten minutes. As they stepped out of the hoverer they took a look at the area around them. They were parked next to the TARDIS at the exact same street as before, but this time the street had nothing but burning fires and people running around screaming. "Oh yes, powerful dictators, those Romans," the Master said sarcastically.

"Shh!" the Doctor yelled.

"What have I done now?" the Master asked. He had been trying to be so good for the Doctor, but now he's just shushing him for no good reason.

"No, listen."

The Master did as he as ordered. He could hear it now. It sounded like the sound of a TARDIS. But how? Both Time Lords closed their eyes and tried to sense the phantom TARDIS's owner. All they could sense was each other.

"Err hello?" Donna asked.

Both their eyes snapped open. They could sense something but it certainly wasn't a Time Lord.

"Run!" screamed some Roman who came running over to them. He had sweat dripping down his forehead and a frightened expression on his face. "We need to run. The gods are punishing us!"

He latched onto the Doctor and Donna and pulled them along with him. The Master tried to follow but another huge crowd of dirty humans came running into him. The Master tumbled over onto the floor as they trampled around him. "Get away from me you primitive apes!" the Master yelled as he heaved himself up from the ground and tried to find out which way the Doctor was.

The Dalek suddenly appeared from behind one of the fancy pointless pillars. "Gallifreyan!" he yelled.

"I prefer the term Time Lord," the Master told him indignantly.

"What is the difference?"

The Master then rolled his eyes. "Gallifreyans are any beings from Gallifrey, Time Lords are Gallifreyans who attended the academy and graduated."

"Why do you complain about being called a Gallifreyan instead of a Time Lord? Don't you like Gallifrey?"

The drums usually would have told the Master that he is not to like Gallifrey, because if he stayed there he would never reach his destiny. He had to admit that he hated those boring Time Lords of Old, but he loved running across the beautiful Gallifreyan fields with Theta as a child.

"Gallifrey is fine, it's the Outsiders that I don't like."

The Dalek looked like it wanted another answer to a question so the Master elaborated.

"Outsiders are the primitives who roam around the land outside the Citadel like beasts and feast off Flubbles, Tafelshrew and Flutterwings."

"Thank you the explanation," the Dalek said. "We will excuse your earlier acts of hostility if you continue to share information with us."

Another Dalek exited a house. "Delta Fluien, you do not have the authority to say that," he informed the other.

"I refuse to obey. The Master shows great intellect. We must negotiate with him…"

While the Daleks continued to argue the Master crept away.

**22.**

The Doctor was reluctantly heading away from the Master with Donna. The man pulled them into a house.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked trying to get the man's dirty hand off him. "Get off."

"I'm so sorry sir," the man replied. "The Gods were killing anyone they came across. I had to save your lives."

"Well thank you," Donna said kindly. "Do you know why the _Gods _are killing?"

The man looked around nervously. "No idea. But I overheard them discussing that people will become gods too, unless the Time Lords will stop them. What is a Time Lord?"

"Me," the Doctor told him. "And we will stop the Daleks, you have my word on that."

"Hmm, some how I don't think that your word will make any difference."

"It will."

Donna and the man continued to chat about the Daleks while the Doctor seeked out the Master. _'Master?' _he asked. _'Hello?'_

After a few seconds the Master replied. _'Where are you?'_

_'I'm not entirely sure. Looks like some kind of house.'_

_'Wow what detailed explanation,' _the Master said sarcastically.

_'Are you still with the Daleks?'_

_'No, I escaped. I' m somewhere near the residential area, but closer to the temple… so have you thought up one of your ingenious plans yet?'_

_'I'm working on it…'_

_'Hundreds and hundreds of times you've stop my plans in five seconds flat, but you still haven't came up with a plan to stop 7 widdle Daleks,' _he said mockingly.

_'Seven Daleks with a weapon to wipe out thousands of their own species, yet alone humans.'_

_'This regeneration is a bit of a let down, isn't it.'_

_'Oi!'_

_'I was only kidding. I think this would be your best since number one.'_

_'Aw thank you. Anyway enough sweet talk, a plan… a plan… a plan…'_

_'Well first we could go back to the temple, work out what the weapon does and disable it. And then work up some kind of atom splitting explosion to wipe out the Daleks, if they prove unstoppable.'_

_'Like a Reality Bomb?'_

_'Exactly!'_

Last time the Doctor saw a Reality Bomb it almost tore the universe apart, how could he possibly formulate another one? _'It's too dangerous. What is something goes wrong?'_

_'As you mentioned earlier, how could anything go wrong with my fantastic engineering skills? Anyway, it's only a last resort.'_

_'Fine, last resort.'_

_'Do you have any ideas?'_

_'We could do what you said with the weapon and then seal the Daleks in suspended animation until we devise a plan about what we do with them.'_

_'Seal the Daleks in suspended animation! I won't be able to stay sane much longer if I have to look at those monsters sliding along this stupid planet, yet alone watch them until we think of a better plan!'_

_'I'm sorry but we can't just kill them, I can't annihilate another species, not again.'_

_'They tortured our people! Not that I really cared for the lazy sods too much, but that's not the point. During the Time War, there were rivers of Time Lord blood everywhere; it was horrifying. Every bright light slowly fading. Why would you not want to kill them!"_

Everything the Master was saying was bringing back all the memories. He could smell the blood around him, taste the tang of the Daleks burning shells, feel the fire burning against his skin, smell the stench of millions of Time Lords' dead bodies, see his childhood home falling apart and worst of all feel the pain of all the other Time Lords as they slowly died, until he was left in the darkness all alone, with nothing but his TARDIS and the pictures of his friends that he cried over for years.

_'I do, trust me, I do. But don't you feel like your becoming them if you kill them?' _the Doctor asked.

_'We've killed thousands of them; seven more isn't going to kill us. In fact it will do quite the opposite. You never would have hesitated to kill them back in the old days,' _the Master replied.

_'When I left the TARDIS and arrived on Earth after the Time War, more Daleks turned up. Rose killed them with vortex energy. Then I met them again and they got sucked into the void. The next time one of them escaped before I could stop it. Then I met up with him later and an entire new Dalek empire, a duplicate of me grown out of my hand killed them. But since you came back I've been thinking how much I don't want to kill any more people or _monsters_. I'm trying to set a good example, I can't kill if I don't want you to kill.'_

_'I'm not a child, Doctor. I don't need you to set examples for me. And we both know it's not about me. You just can't deal with killing someone else.'_

_'It's not that, Master.'_

_'I'm inside your head, I know. Here's an idea. You can try to help me with my so-called "killing problems" and I can help you with your "not killing problems". I know you want them dead just as much as I do.'_

_'Your right.'_

_'When am I not?'_

_'Your idea it is!'_

_'Yes, I'll come to you.'_

_'How do you know my exact location?'_

_'Psychic bond, how do you think? Nah it must be magic!'_

The Master left his mind and the Doctor returned to reality.

"Hello!" Donna yelled in his face waving a hand in front of him.

"What?" he asked.

Donna looked very relieved. "You've been in a trance for a few minutes."

"Oh sorry. Now plan! We wanted a plan!"

"Yes…"

"I've got a plan!" he said excitingly.

"About time, Doctor. I was beginning to doubt your supreme plan thinking skills… or was it the Master's plan."

"It might be the second one," the Doctor said guiltily.

"Well let's get this plan into action!" Donna said brightly. "So what exactly is the plan?"

Suddenly the door of the house fell off it's hinges and landed on the other side of the room.

"No!" cried the roman. "Why? Why do you punish me? Why must the gods do this to me? I've always been a good citizen! I've worked so hard to please you!"

The Doctor turned around to see what the man was yelling at and as he assumed it was a Dalek.

"Exterminate!" it called.

The Doctor laughed dryly. "I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't bark that at me once while I was in your presence this time 'round," he said to it. "So Dalek Rho Psi. You've come to kill us?"

The Dalek slid closer to them. "Affirmative. I would rather not, because killing is bad."

"You should run a children's program where they tell kids that," Donna joked. The Doctor liked that she could still keep up a sense of humour even in the worse of times.

"I do not wish to," the Dalek said ignorant to the fact that Donna wasn't serious. "Farewell Doctor."

A beam escaped the Dalek's ray gun. Why had the Doctor been so stupid and hadn't taken this seriously? He knew the beam would hit him and he would either die or regenerate. He has always been so careless, he should have seen this coming and escaped from the Dalek's presence.

The beam was just about to hit the Doctor's chest when it froze.

"Oh," the Doctor said. He took a step back from the floating line of death uncomfortably. He walked down the road of the line until he reached the Dalek. Rho Psi seemed to be completely immobile. He flicked the Dalek with his fingers and it still didn't react.

The Doctor felt a breath on the back of his neck and he turned around to find the Master standing there with a smug expression on his face. "Your life preservation skills have always been terribly dreadful," he said.

"Thanks," the Doctor said sarcastically.

The Master suddenly stepped back and slapped him.

"What the hell was that for?" the Doctor asked.

"Don't you dare almost die again!" the Master yelled at him. "If you died your regeneration could have gone wrong and you would have left me all alone! I wouldn't care what regeneration your in if you did regenerate but I'm rather fond of this one. So don't you ever do that again!"

The Doctor knew the Master was right once again. He is a complete idiot. "I'm so sorry."

The Master smirked. "And sorry is all I get?"

"I'll make it up to you tonight."

The Master considered it. "I'll be looking forward to it."

He turned around, walked over to the Dalek and tapped it twice with his lazer screwdriver. "Completely time locked."

"But how?" the Doctor asked. "How did you manage to put a time lock only on the Dalek and the beam?"

"This," the Master pulled a huge gun out of his pocket. "Built this just before. I'll call it a Selective Immobilising Device!"

"That's almost as bad as the name 'Tissue Compression Eliminator', couldn't you have come up with something more exciting?"

"What like a Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Freezer?" the Master said sarcastically.

"Yes, exactly!"

"But how does that sound powerful. The S.I.D. sounds more intimidating."

"Fine, how does the _S.I.D. _work?"

"I just point it at something, fire and the object becomes completely immobile."

"And how exactly did you build it?"

"Well I found an empty Dalek shell in a big anachronistic shed. The Daleks seem to be bringing a lot of objects to Earth. I believe they are trying to convert humans into Daleks, by cutting out their brains and putting them inside Polycarbide. I stole some Dalekanium built it into a gun with one of the conversion machines ran back to the TARDIS, told her to build a time lock on the gun that can multiply and go to other objects when the trigger is fired."

"Oh wow, you did all that in a few minutes!"

"What can I say, I am just too good."

"Yes you are!"

"So what are we going to do? Freeze all the Daleks?" Donna asked.

"Precisely!" the Doctor replied happily. "After they are frozen we can dispose of them."

"Well lets get started."

The man who had dragged them there was hiding under a table in the corner of the room. He had a scared look on his face. "You have a weapon to defeat the Gods?" he asked shyly.

"Oh would you stop calling them Gods!" the Doctor and the Master yelled at the same time. "They're called Daleks, and yes the weapon will suspend them."

Donna laughed at the two Time Lords. "I would have thought that telepathic bonds would make people alike but wow. Speaking exactly the same sentence at the same time. Maybe it's not the bond, it's _love_!" she exclaimed.

The Time Lord stared at each other in silence. They hadn't actually told each other that they loved them since the reunion. The words usually went unspoken, but they still used to tell each other nearly every time they were alone and together.

"The power of love! You Time Lords are so lucky. You meet each other a millennia ago and fall in love. But the man I fall in love with turns out to be with a giant spider. Hmm," Donna sighed sadly.

"Don't worry Donna, you'll find true love someday. If not I'm sure we could pick Adric or that dear old brigadier up for a trip in the TARDIS," the Master said mockingly.

The Doctor looked away uncomfortably. The talk of old companions was distressing for him. Why can't the Master stop awakening the dead memories?

"Damn I did it again!" the Master said remorsefully. "Sorry."

Well apologising is a start. "Apology excepted," the Doctor said locking those memories back in the back of his mind. "Now lets get these Daleks frozen before they begin to convert the humans. Allons-y!"

**Another Author's Note: I have made a picture/wallpaper for this story. Type this link into your url bar but change the " (dot) " to "."  
http:/psychotimelord (dot) deviantart (dot) com/#/d33rx88  
I don't think FanFiction likes links.  
Explanation of picture: the Time Lords are there because they are in the story if you hadn't noticed, the slabs are there because they were searching for the Time Lords at the start of the story, the Dalek ships are there to represent the fact that the Daleks are in the story, and Gallifrey is there to represent that the Daleks think they should be Time Lords/Gallifreyans.  
**


	9. Death

**Chapter 9**

**Author's Note: Another chapter has come. Complete with lots of angst, joy and a flashback. I'm actually surprised i haven't done a flash back yet. Well it's not really a flashback more like someone thinking about the past. Disclaimer: I don't think i own Doctor Who.**

**23**

All alone on the edge of the universe he sat. The darkness was all around him. No lights left, all of them had gone. He was so alone. The Doctor and the Master didn't know how lucky they were together… or perhaps they did? How much pain would they feel if they were separated? How much darkness would flow throughout their minds? What would happen if one of them were left alone in the dark universe?

He stood up and jumped from uninhabited rock to uninhabited rock like stepping-stones. The Time Lords were completely unaware of his existence, and also unaware that he was going to take all of their lives away… no more than that; he was going to take all of one of the Time Lords lives away.

First he had to build a Time Capsule to teleport to them. Then he would suck the lives out of one of them. It didn't matter who, they would still feel the terrible absence.

"Daleks," he telepathically told the monsters he freed from the war. "Do not harm the Old Planetians."

"We have been informed they're called Time Lords, Emperor," all of the Daleks replied at the same time.

"Yes, Time Lords."

"How come you have been lying to us?"

"To insure you don't betray me."

"We will never betray you. You are the Dalek Emperor, we owe you our lives!"

He smiled sinisterly. "Yes, you do."

"Why should we not harm them?"

"Because it is my job to harm them!"

"We obey."

His plan was falling into place, and nothing could go wrong from here. His Time Capsule will be completed in no time, and then he will burn the hearts out of those Time Lords that denied him of the universe!

**24**

The Master ran along side the Doctor as they headed back to the machine. The man who pulled the Doctor and Donna away stayed back in his house to cower and cry. Donna was a lot slower than the Time Lords due to the fact that she's human. They ran up all of the empty streets until they reached a Dalek. "Halt!" he ordered.

"No," the Master said as he fired his S.I.D. at it.

The Dalek stopped moving and they kept running. Donna stopped to catch her breath as another Dalek appeared out of the shadows. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" it screamed as it fired a beam at Donna. The beam froze as the Master targeted it. He then did the same to the Dalek.

"Five to go!" the Doctor said cheerfully.

The Master read into the Doctor's mind and saw he was thinking how proud he was of the Master. So sentimental. They walked up all of stairs to enter the temple. As they stepped inside the doors ten Daleks moved out of the shadows.

"No," the Doctor said quietly. "They've already started the conversion!"

"You will not have the opportunity to fire your weapon before we kill you. Do not fire," one of the Daleks instructed.

"Well isn't this wonderful," the Master said sarcastically.

The Daleks loaded up their ray guns. The Doctor put his fingers up as if to tell the Daleks to stop. "Don't fire. Maybe we can come to some agreement? The other four of you didn't want to kill us before, because we have information. We can share our information if it insures are safety," he told them.

"We know all the information. As newly converted Daleks, we have been uploaded with the true mission and facts," they all spoke at once.

"But we're still valuable to you. We could become your slaves, Daleks love slaves!"

"We do not wish to exterminate you."

The Doctor frowned. "Why not?"

"We only wish to exterminate the human!"

Before anyone could stop it, a beam came out all of the Daleks guns and shot into Donna.

"No!" the Doctor cried.

The Master simply stared. He didn't know how to react. He could feel the Doctor's emotional pain through the bond, but he was just confused. He hadn't stopped the Daleks from shooting Donna? Why hadn't he? Was it because he wanted the Doctor to himself? Was it because he hates humans? Why should he have stopped them? Is it because he wanted the Doctor's friend to live? Is it because he hates the Daleks, and wants to destroy their plans? Is it because he cares about Donna?

The Doctor's mind was grieving, should he be doing the same? Why does he feel a slight victory? "This is not good," the Master said unemotionally.

Donna's body had been turned into a pile of ashes; they clearly had their guns set to disintegrate. The Doctor got down on his knees and ran his hands through the ashes. He looked up at the Master with tears in his eyes. "Not again!" he cried. "Why do I take so many of their lives?"

"You didn't. The Daleks took her life," the Master said as his emotions began to kick in again. He kneeled down and held the Doctor in his arms. "I'm sorry."

"If I never let her come with me again, then she'd be alive and living happily," the Doctor said sadly.

The Master could have saved her life. It didn't matter whether the Doctor let her back into the TARDIS or not, it was the Master's fault. He could have shot the ray, or shot the Dalek, but he hadn't. He hadn't even tried. This is what guilt feels like, the he decided. This was worse than anything he's done since the drums left him. The Doctor didn't even have any thoughts implying that it was the Master's fault, why not? Why is he so ignorant to the fact that the Master is a monster? He just lets a friend die without doing anything. "It's my fault," he told the Doctor.

"It's not, don't even say that," the Doctor said looking into his friends eyes.

"It is. I could've done something. But I didn't."

"That's happened to me hundreds of times, and it doesn't get easier. But you can't blame yourself for not stopping them. It's me you should blame."

"No it's not. I just stood there and I didn't even care. I just let Donna die because I didn't want to save her."

"Don't say that," the Doctor begged. "Please don't tell me that."

The Master saw into the Doctor's head and realised that he couldn't stand the thought of him actually not saving Donna just because he didn't want to. The Doctor thought the Master had changed, and he is certain of this. To hear the Master even say it, that was heartbreaking. "I have to leave," the Master said as he stood and headed for the exit too emotional to remember he had to stop the Daleks. It was just too much. He hadn't had an emotional spill like this since the Time War, and this time it wasn't even brought on by the Daleks. It was brought on by his own sociopathic qualities. Why did he have to be like this? It would be better if he actually cared now. Sure he was sad, but it mostly only about betraying the Doctor. Something in the back of his mind was telling him to be happy about Donna's death. What the hell is it? The drums are gone, so what is this?

The Master walked down the stairs to the TARDIS. There was nowhere else he could go.

_'Please come back, Master," _the Doctor begged in his mind. _'Don't leave!'_

The Master built up his mental defences, but did not seal off the link, that would be too painful for both of them.

_"Please don't leave!' _the Doctor cried. _'It's not your fault, not your fault, not at all.' _The Doctor chanted it like he was trying to convince himself.

_'I know you would never try to hurt anyone any more, please Koschei!'_

The Master finished perfecting his defences as the Doctor's voice faded from his head. He had made it across the burning roads to the TARDIS, he then swung the door open and stepped inside. He then closed the door and marched over to his bedroom door that appeared in the wall. He ran to his bed and hid under the covers like a child. Tears ran down his face and his head flooded with shame. A few years ago this wouldn't have meant anything. _So what he killed the Doctor's friend, victory for him! _But he was trying to change, to get some of his mind back. The drums and demons had taken that away from him. He forgot how to feel happiness, joy, love, remorse and hope. It was so confusing.

He was supposed to be the Master, the ruler over everything, why was he acting so childish?

**25**

"I just stood there and I didn't even care. I just let Donna die because I didn't want to save her."

The Doctor didn't want to believe these words. Why wouldn't the Master save Donna? Simple answer; he's a sociopath. When the Master was a child the Doctor thought he would never take the life of anyone, because Koschei was a nice person. He might have enjoyed being in charge, but he would never want to rule over everything. As time went by Koschei began to get more selfish and started to treat the other students at the academy like they were lesser beings than him. And it is true that he was one of the smartest students at the Prydonian, and the Doctor was too but he didn't like to show off. Everything was fine until the day they killed someone. It was that bully who always hurt them.

One day they were sitting by the river staring up at the orange sky. The Doctor can picture it so clearly even today. They were just sitting doing nothing, until he came over. He tried to drown Theta, so Koschei pushed him over. Then Theta bashed a rock in his head. The death was a team effect but it haunted them for the rest of their lives. That was when Koschei really began to change. It was like the ancient legends of the one known as death had chosen him to be its champion. The drums must have been beating in his friend's head and slowly growing stronger. As a child the Doctor thought Koschei just naturally got back headaches, but then they began to get so bad that blood would come flowing out of his ears. It wasn't normal, but he always told Theta not to tell any of the professors, because they would probably run tests on him and tell him that he's diseased or something and then he would get kicked out of the academy forever. Theta did eventually tell the professors but they didn't even want to help Koschei, if Time Lords' bodies could handle anaesthetic then they would have given him that, but all they could do was tell him to deal with it like a true Time Lord.

Poor Master, poor Koschei, if those demons never plagued him with that infernal racket, then his life would have been so much better.

The Doctor thought he was healing, if what the Master was trying to tell him is true, then he mustn't be getting much better

"Don't say that," the Doctor begged. "Please don't tell me that."

He could feel the Master searching his head, until he found the fear. "I have to leave," the Master said as he turned around and exited the room. The Daleks didn't attack him because they were ordered not to. So he walked out unharmed. But it sure harmed the Doctor. He could feel the Master slowly building up his mental defences to block the Doctor out.

He tried to chase after him but the Daleks blocked the exit. "You must remain here," they said in synchronisation.

"Why?" the Doctor asked.

"Our emperor ordered it."

"Who is your high and mighty emperor? Will I get the chance to meet our lord?"

"The time will come. For now you must stay here. We were ordered to let the Master leave because it will bring pain to you. Pain is what our emperor wants."

The Doctor kept trying to think of a way to stop the Master from going wherever he was going. _'Please come back, Master," _the Doctor told him telepathically. _'Don't leave! Please don't leave!' _the Doctor cried. _'It's not your fault, not your fault, not at all.' _

Before the Time War the Master sometimes used to beg for forgiveness. Some days they met all he wanted to do was kill, other days all he wanted was to become what they once were. Every time he asked for forgiveness of the terrible crimes he had done, the Doctor would always say no. Because he just couldn't forgive the Master for killing so many innocent people and breaking his hearts. The Doctor had asked forgiveness once.

'Back on Gallifrey after graduation Theta and Koschei were having a conversation. They talked about how they would leave Gallifrey and explore the universe, instead of being on the boring old Time Lord Council, working for the Celestial Intervention Agency, filing old records of planets or becoming a teacher for the new students.

They were going to save planets, rescue civilisations, fly across the galaxy in their TARDIS and live their lives together happily. But then Koschei started talking about the incident they tried to avoid talking about for years. The time they killed that bully. They didn't even know his name, and they promised they'd never speak of the moment ever again. After the murder they burnt his body and buried the ashes. Koschei didn't believe that they'd get away with it, because the evidence would be found somehow. But Theta stormed away from the crime scene with tears in his eyes before Koschei could stop him, so they just left it like that.

As they were packing all of their bags to get ready to steal a TARDIS and leave Gallifrey for a very long time Koschei mentioned that before they leave they should take the remains of the person with them and scatter the ashes across space they the Time Lords will never ever find them, and then they will have to stop living with the fear of the Time Lords finding out.

Theta's eyes had begun to water. He looked at his friend angrily. "I thought we would never mention this again?" he said.

"I'm sorry," Koschei replied. "I just think it would be better than being called back to Gallifrey and put on trial in front of our families and friends. Imagine the shame and betrayal their faces would show. I don't want to have to get executed."

"What's in the past stays in the past."

"We're Time Lords, Theta, the past can be seen again."

"I said no!"

They didn't speak for the rest of the day, but the next morning they forgot about last night's events and moved on. Years later after they had travelled space for a while Theta was in Koschei's room searching for a tool that would fix the chameleon circuit. He kept searching until he came across a jar. Theta immediately knew what was in that jar. He ran up to the Master who was leaning on a table in the kitchen with his head in his hands, or more precisely with his hands over his ears.

"How could you?" Theta yelled. "You promised me you wouldn't!" He shoved the jar on the table in front of Koschei.

Koschei looked up with a tired look on his face. "A jar," he stated.

"A jar of '_you know who_'s ashes!"

"I couldn't risk it," Koschei replied looking up at Theta innocently. He then grew a little annoyed. "I am not going to get executed! I am not going to die! I mustn't!"

That day they went for a trip to Gallifrey to visit their family's who weren't very happy about them becoming renegades, but very glad to see them. Koschei and Theta spent that night together but the next morning when Koschei awoke Theta and the TARDIS were gone.'

The Doctor begged for forgiveness so many times. But the Master never forgave him either. The story was actually quite different than the Master remembers. When the Doctor told him that their trust was more important than life and humiliation the Master had hit him and banged his head against the other Time Lord. The Doctor remembers that when the Master had put their heads together he heard a terrible noise. Back then the Doctor didn't think much of it, the Master was probably just trying to form a noise and attack the Doctor with it, but ever since he found out that the Master had drums in his head he knew what that noise was.

When Martha Jones had saved the world the Doctor had forgiven the Master for everything. But forgiveness wasn't what the drums wanted, they wanted the Time Lords not to forgive, because the Master was meant to free the demons, and for the Doctor and him to be together again might stop the demons from getting their freedom.

The Doctor forgave everything, because he swore to himself he would make the Master better, he knew then it was just the drums.

_'I know you would never try to hurt anyone any more, please Koschei!' _the Doctor begged.

The Master was probably going to steal the TARDIS, or kill someone or maybe even do the unthinkable and end his own life. He was always so unpredictable.

The bond was now fully blocked. It was still there but the Master's defences were blocking it.

**26**

The Daleks didn't look as if they were going to get out of the way of the exit so the Doctor got his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and tilted it towards the roof like an aerial. He made sound waves smash into the Dalek's hearing receptors. Dalek's aren't meant to feel pain but the sounds were going through the shells and into the mutants mind. They started spinning around in circles and screaming. Why hadn't the Doctor thought of that sooner? He rushed out the door and tried to track the Master using the little telepathic connection they have.

He could smell him somewhere in the direction of the TARDIS. So he's planning on steeling it, is he?

The Doctor ran past all of the fiery streets and swung the door open to find the TARDIS looking completely empty. Where is the Master? The Master's door suddenly appeared on the wall. The Doctor opened the door to find what looked like a giant machine, or it could just be a huge metal structure with wires hanging out of it. The Master's room had been stretched to fit the huge machine inside.

The Doctor stepped around the machine until he found the Master with his lazer screwdriver attaching a tube to it. The Master looked up at him surprisingly calm. "I'm building a machine that will be able to bring Donna back. Of course we could just go back in time and interfere with our own time lines, but I found a safer way. The machine will be able to pull something or someone out of the past and make them appear here. It won't really affect much, as long as I select the right target. The machine will be able to sort of duplicate Donna. The fake version will be a pile of ashes on the ground, and simultaneously the real Donna will be here and living, problem solved. I'll call it the Unilateral Fabricating Reforming Paradox Sustainer. UFRPS," he said without emotion. "Or maybe the People Copier, if you like?"

The Doctor stood there looking at the Master. He was expecting much worse. "No," he told him.

"Hmm?" The Master continued playing with the UFRPS.

"Donna's dead now. It's not your fault. You don't need to do this."

"Nothings ever dead, Doctor. The past can be altered!"

"Don't you think that I've ever wanted to bring someone back from the dead, Master? Heaps of people have ended their lives because of me, and I just have to except it. I know you find yourself guilty, but the guilt shows that you care. Your not a monster, Master. You anything but." He meant ever word of that. After everything they've been through the Master still must care, so maybe there is a chance. "Death is normal, even if we're the cause of it, we can't just bring people back. It's not right."

The Master looked up at he Doctor with tears in his eyes. "I have to do something. I don't want to go back to the way I was. I can't just let everyone die and not give a damn."

"I know, it hurts. It really does. But we've got each other now to help us get through this."

The Master lowered his defences and let the Doctor back into his mind. He was in a horrible mental state. Dark emotions flooded his mind, but this time they weren't angry emotions, they were sad.

"But what happens if one of us dies?" the Master asked suddenly.

He had put his tools down and was now just sitting there staring at the Doctor.

"Don't talk like that. We're not going to die," the Doctor replied.

"But what if we do. I'll bring you back somehow without a second thought."

The Doctor sat down on a chair opposite the Master. "It won't happen, but if it does… I'd do the same for you."

"How come you didn't before? You just burnt me."

"I didn't know what to do. I should have foreseen you'd find a way back, perhaps I did. Maybe that's why I just burnt you without trying to find another way of bringing you back."

The Master looked confused. "But I didn't find a way back. It was the drums, the knocking, the void, the demons. They're the ones who reformed me in the war. So why lie like this. Why did you just burn me?"

The Doctor gave in. It was just too hard to keep secrets from the Master. At least he was asking instead of pulling in information out of his head.

"When you just gave up living, I thought it was because you couldn't bear the thought of having to be with me all the time. It killed me, well not as literally as it killed you, but it hurt. Jack and Martha didn't understand what I was going through. As I held your body as the blood seeped through your clothes and all over me, I didn't ever want to leave. I just kept holding you until the UNIT guards said they would take the TARDIS if I didn't leave so they could claim the Valiant back. Martha and Jack just stood there while I sat in the TARDIS staring at your body in sorrow. They kept whispering about the fact that I was crying over the enemy's death, they didn't even know how much I loved you, and still do. The humans don't know the crushing feeling of darkness, without any other Time Lords around, or our past or anything about us really."

The Doctor eyes began to water too as he talked about that miserable day.

"Did I just hear you say that the humans don't know anything?" the Master asked trying to lighten up the mood with a joke. Koschei used to do that lots. When ever it got too emotional he always tried to make everything funny. "The ape loving Doctor said that those all so advanced super smart monkeys don't know anything!"

"You know what I mean," the Doctor replied. He didn't mind when the Master made fun of him that much, he sort of enjoyed how familiar it feels. The Doctor then turned serious and continued his story. "They thought I was going mad. I might have been. I sat aboard the TARDIS day after day just thinking, staring, and doing necessary things to live. Martha and Jack kept trying to talk to me when all I wanted to do was remember us, so I asked if they could leave the TARDIS, but they refused, because apparently I was at risk of suicide…"

"Wait you were going to kill yourself?"

"Me? Suicide? By Rassilon, why would you think I'd ever do that? If I were going to kill myself I'd have done it ages ago. Here's a new motto; don't go through all the pain in life, if your just going to end your own life later!" the Doctor said happily despite his bad mood.

"You and your mottos. What was the one back on Gallifrey? Don't do work, when you can just cheat off your friends?" the Master asked with a smile.

"Oh yes, and that got me through most of my academy years! Anyway, I decided to go in a healing coma, those work with other aspects of pain, not just physical. Jack and Martha thought I was dying or something. Later I woke up and decided I needed to have a funeral for you. I couldn't just live my life with your body in the fridge, could I?"

"You kept my body in a fridge?"

"Well yes, in the morgue."

"You have a morgue in your TARDIS! How many bodies do you keep in here? If there's a murderous side of you I didn't no about then why didn't you tell me years ago so we could travel space, hand in hand, and kill as many people as we want. Into the first week of us travelling together you went mad at me when I killed that cat."

"No, I had the morgue especially formed for you."

The Master mockingly smiled. "Aw, how sweet."

"On with the story! So I dropped Jack and Martha off against their earlier protests, and pretended that a big sleep fixed everything. They were then happy to leave so I landed on a planet and burnt your body. But in my healing coma I tried to think of every possible way to bring you back, but there was nothing I could do. If I dared interfere with our timeline it could destroy time itself."

Sometimes talking about things can make it better, the Doctor decided. He was very glad he had told the Master everything now. The Master seemed to have cheered up a bit probably because he got to hear about the Doctor crying over his absence.

"That's us, the last Time Lords, with our very important time lines that could change the course of the universe!" the Master said happily. "Now tell me Doctor, what planet did you burn me on?"

The Doctor looked away uncomfortably. The Master had really started hating incredibly sentimental things in this regeneration. "Harmonia Va'Dremia."

"Our first planet," the Master said surprisingly wistfully. "We went to it straight when we left Gallifrey."

The Doctor smiled at the memory. "Remember the waters of orange, and the blue mountains?"

"Oh yes, they say that place was even more tranquil than the Eye of Orion. Oh and remember the next planet we went to?"

"Yep. Rosinasei'Aluiobzh Sjondrlic!"

"And remember what we did on that planet?"

The Master merged minds with the Doctor. _'How could I ever forget?' _the Doctor asked him.

_'I won't ever let you,' _the Master replied.

They both headed out of the Master's room due to the amount of machinery that would get in their way. As they entered the Doctor's room the Master kissed the Doctor. He was very satisfied with the moan the Doctor produced. They made their way over to the bed and they undressed while kissing. While they were doing this it seemed as if the TARDIS was trying to enter their minds for some strange reason. _'Do you feel that?' _the Doctor asked while they continued what they were doing.

_'Oh yes, Doctor! I do feel it!' _the Master replied blissfully.

_'No not that, you one tracked minded person.'_

_'One track minded? I can hardly think about anything else at the moment, can I?_

_'The TARDIS, she's trying to talk to us for some reason.'_

_'Dirty machine. No way she's joining in on this. We should by her a calculator next time we go shopping.'_

_'A calculator is hardly up to the TARDIS's standards.'_

_'I'm sure the TARDIS will make do with anything. How many years has it been since she had a little fun?'_

_'I don't think she's seen another Sentient Time Capsule since the time war, I think she had a thing for your old TARDIS though.'_

_'Nah, I think a calculator would be better for your TARDIS.'_

_'Our TARDIS.'_

_'Huh?'_

_'She's our TARDIS now.'_

Due to their intense mind connection at the moment the Doctor could feel the Master's happiness skyrocketing. _'I like the sound of that. Our TARDIS. She was ours to begin with, and now she's both of ours again.'_

_'Just the way it should be.'_

**27**

Little did the Time Lords know but right outside the TARDIS every single member of the Dalek race were currently gathering.

"They won't leave," Dalek Zeta said. "Not until they exterminate us permently."

"Agreed," Dalek Ukilnao agreed. "Dalek soldiers you must begin to place our emotional inhibitors back in their rightful place. We must become Daleks of old to complete our mission of guarding these Time Lords for the emperor"

"We obey!" the ten Dalek soldiers called out.

They all headed towards their big shed filled with Dalekanium and Polycarbide. Despite the soldiers lack of emotions they were feeling quite smug. The Time Lords were so oblivious to the fact that soon they will both burn.

**Another Authors Note: Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter and those who commented on Deviant Art.  
I am still a disclaimer: i claim to disclaim that i claim Doctor Who, so there for i don't claim to own Doctor Who.  
About the weird planet names, my excuse is i was feeling creative or bored or however you call it when you just type what ever flies into your mind.**


	10. Life

**Chapter 10**

**Author's Note: 10th Chapter, yay! I have never owned Doctor Who. Merry Christmas to all, because i highly doubt i'll get another chapter up before Christmas. And thank you very much to all that reviewed, favourited, and subscribed. Warning: there is some dark stuff in this chapter, but its just about what happened in the past. I would reply to each review separately, but i don't have much to say besides, thank you, you people are what motivates me to continue writing this. Spoilers for for Last of the Time Lords and the Five Doctors.**

**28**

As the Master woke up he could sense the Doctor next to him. They were tangled together; minds and bodies. He could hear the Doctor's heart beats beneath him. The beat of four didn't seem so horrific now. He opened his eyes slowly as he began to see everything again.

He lied there looking at the Doctor for quite sometime before his friend opened his eyes. "Hi," the Doctor said.

"Morning," the Master said again.

"Inter-dimensional non-time-ness."

"Non-time-ness isn't a word."

"Now who's stating the obvious?"

"Us."

They stayed in each other's arms for a bit longer before the Master decided that they better go back outside the TARDIS and do what ever they were doing before. Why has he forgotten? Well obviously because he just had one of the best nights of this life. He stood up and got a robe from the back of the Doctor's door and tied it around himself. "You want food?" he asked.

The Doctor yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Yes thanks."

The Master opened the door and stepped into the hallway the Doctor's room was now in. He walked to the door opposite, which was the kitchen. He was quite glad that the TARDIS and him weren't fighting anymore. He walked through the doorway and opened the fridge. The Doctor didn't have much food that's not from Earth, probably because his pets don't like anything different. He tried to search for non-Earthling food and took out some kind of purple cheese slice, some normal bread, and a Gargantosaur egg, it's amazing how those eggs don't ever go off.

He then made a two toasted cheese sandwiches with egg on top of them. He made his way back to the Doctor's room and handed him a plate.

"Hmm, that's delicious," the Doctor said with his mouth full of food.

"Yeah," the Master said absentmindedly. He was forgetting something but he didn't know what. "What am I forgetting?" he asked the Doctor.

"What are you forgetting? The question is what am _I _forgetting."

"I don't know…"

"Well what ever it is, we'll find out soon!" the Doctor said happily.

"That's very uncharacteristic of you." The Master put his food down on a nightstand by the bed to stare at the Doctor seriously.

"What is?"

"That you wouldn't really care. Usually once you forget something you always need to remember it. Is your head not big enough to think? Or is that you're so thick?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Have you been pulling up TARDIS records?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"I said that, not so long ago, back at the Library."

"Strange… it's probably just a coincidence."

"You think so?"

"Hmm maybe. Or it might be because I've been spending so much time inside your head lately."

"Yes that too. Besides I know you wouldn't, but even if you did look into the TARDIS records I have locks on them."

"If I was interrogating me, about talking about me saying the same sentence as you a while ago, which I think it is ridiculous by the way…"

"I'm not interrogating you! I'm merely wondering why you repeated what I said."

"If that's how you want to look at it, Doctor. Do I have your permission to finish what I was trying to earlier before you rudely interrupted?"

"That's me rude and not ginger!"

"Oh you're still going on about wanting to be ginger, even now?"

The Doctor scoffed at the Master. "I haven't always wanted to be ginger, I'm just sick of all the brown and blond hair."

"Sure."

"And yes you have my permission."

"Good. I would figure I would have been looking in the matrix if anything, since I did gain access to it years ago. Hold on, did the Matrix die with Gallifrey?"

"Yes."

"Then how does the TARDIS still have its records."

"Well I tried to download the Matrix when Gallifrey burnt. But I only had enough time to save the stuff I needed."

"Oh and you didn't both to upload anything useful, like how to reconstruct Time Lord DNA and bring back some other Time Lords," the Master asked sarcastically.

"It didn't occur to me at the time," the Doctor said sadly looking away from the Master. Oh why did he always have to do this to the Doctor? He always made jokes at inappropriate times and left the Doctor feeling guilty over killing or something of the like.

"Well we don't need those other boring pompous idiots anyway."

"You're right about that. Not to brag but we always were better than the others," the Doctor said cheering up a bit.

"Exactly." The Master said, getting up off the bed and leaning over to the Doctor and kissing him before he turned around and headed to the door. "I'm going for a shower. You can just…"

"I don't need you to order me what to do, Master. You need to stop mastering over people."

"If you stop doctoring people then I'll stop mastering," the Master said playfully.

He exited the room and walked down the corridor until he got to one of the many bathrooms.

**29.**

"How much longer do we have to wait," wined Dalek Zeta.

"Daleks do not wine!" sounded out Dalek Two in an angry tone.

"I believe that you just did wine," Dalek Delta Fluien replied.

All of the fourteen Daleks were back outside the TARDIS after upgrading the named Daleks into Daleks of old. The ten unnamed Daleks were now being called numbers of the Numeric English Earth System.

"I do not understand why they have forgotten to come out and exterminate us!" Dalek One said.

"Activating last message from the emperor," Dalek Four said.

'Daleks,' their emperor addressed them. 'I am interfering with the Time Lords minds to make them temporarily forget that the Daleks are currently existing. It will buy me time to get to Earth. You must stay immobile outside their vehicle until I arrive.'

"Why must the emperor defeat the Doctor and the Master? Why does he deny us of the right to exterminate them?" Dalek Ten said.

"We must not question the Dalek Emperor!"

**30**

"Well I think maybe we can go back to the Krlisian Valacadacaska," suggested the Doctor as they walked in circles around the rotor and controls.

"I still think we must have landed somewhere," said the Master. He suddenly stopped circling. "Did you hear that?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Hear what?"

"Err, nothing. Never mind."

"No tell me. Hear what?"

"It's not important."

The Doctor searched the Master's thoughts and heard it too. "The drums?" he asked sceptically.

The Master looked very confused. "No. It's something different, like static?" His eyes widened. "It's in your head too," he said pointing at the Doctor.

"My head?" the Doctor asked while pointing at himself disbelievingly. "You're right."

"I'm always right."

"What is this noise?"

"Well its no drumbeat. But it has the same kind of hypnotic feel about it."

"Mmm, yeah."

"Well there must be a source. The TARDIS will be able to trace it." The Doctor fiddled with a few buttons and switches. "What's wrong? Why won't you find it?" he asked tapping the console.

"Try amplifying the command."

"I've done that, she still won't respond."

"Get out of the way." The Master nudged the Doctor away so he could see the controls he was fiddling with. He twisted a twisty thing and pumped the pump. "It seems like there's something outside that's blocking it."

"What? You mean outside of the TARDIS right now?"

"Yes, I believe that's what I just said."

"Well let's look, shall we?"

The Time Lords walked up to the door and opened it to fourteen Daleks.

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed.

The memories of the last day came flooding back into their minds. It was actually quite painful to have those memories recovered.

"So we've just been inside the TARDIS all that time while the Daleks were ripping the world apart out here?" the Doctor asked with a shocked look on his face.

"Oh Doctor, sometimes I swear you get thicker with age!" the Master said.

They suddenly heard a big roaring thunder in the sky and looked up to see electricity flooding between the clouds. "Oh this is bad," the Doctor said. "This is very very bad."

The clouds looked as if they were getting pushed out of the way for something to enter between them. The electricity began to strike down to the surface of the planet like lightning. The fires around the Doctor and the Master spread. A giant troll like foot landed upon the Earth through the clouds. Both Gallifreyans instantly knew what owned the foot. The Master shook his head refusing to believe it had returned. "No," he muttered. "They're dead." He turned to the Doctor. "We killed them!"

The Dalek's eyestalks looked up towards the mighty beast. "The Dalek emperor has arrived!"

The Doctor snapped out of his trance and faced the Daleks. "Dalek emperor? But that thing is not even remotely Dalek!"

"He is the lord who saved us from the great destruction of the Time War!" the Daleks said admiringly. How on Gallifrey can a Dalek admire something!

"That creature is not a lord! I thought the Dalek's don't cooperate with any other species!"

The Master stepped back in fear. "But how?" he whimpered. He turned around to try to unlock the TARDIS but it wouldn't budge.

The Doctor could tell how fearful the Master was and moved over to him to try to calm him. "It's okay. We stopped them before, so we can stop them again."

The Master blinked the tears out of his eyes and tried to calm down. His sadness and fear then turned into anger and dry humour. "Wow, you've gotten big since we last chatted to you," the Master told the demon.

"Spare me your nonsense chatter!" the demon roared down at them.

"It seems like we forgot about you. You were the one who got through the schism, that Jenny and Jack tried to kill, correct?"

"That is correct. You killed my family…"

"No, no, no. It's my turn to talk!"

"Stop trying to act brave, Time Lord. You are nothing but a weak primitive…"

"Says the one that wants to revert the universe back to what it was," the Doctor interrupted. "Now who's the primitive?"

Another foot fell through the sky and landed at what looked like the other side of the city. "Doctor!" the demon yelled down at them. "You know what it feels like to be alone, don't you?"

"Are you trying to make us sympathise with you?" the Master asked sarcastically.

"You must know the empty feeling that rips you apart; the darkness, the never-ending darkness!"

"I know how you feel, but destroying the Earth isn't going to help!" the Doctor yelled back to the demon.

"Oh I will do far more than destroy this rock! And you have no way of stopping me!"

"How can you stop us, when you can't even see us?" the Master asked. "You're a bit tall."

"I've been feasting, and that increases my power." The demon began to shrink down. His other leg stepped closer and he lowered down to the size of the previous demons they had confronted with. "Happy now?"

"Oh I'm happy, maybe even ecstatic!"

"Why is that?"

"Because now I'm going to kill you." The Master got his S.I.D. out of his transdimensional pocket, pointed it at the demon and fired.

"You think you can stop me by immobilising me? I am an Ancient Being! I have great power that you cannot even begin to imagine!" the demon yelled. He unfortunately did not freeze. "You Higher Beings killed the rest of my race and left me standing all alone in the darkness. Now I'm going to do it to one of you!"

The Time Lords looked at each other in fear. Neither of them wanted to ever be alone again.

Suddenly they could hear a zapping noise and then Jenny appeared. She had a vortex manipulator in her hand. She then pointed it at the demon and power came flooding out of it. The demon fell to the ground making a huge impact on the surface of the planet. "I thought you guys might need some extra help," she said happily.

The Doctor ran up to her and hugged her. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Well," she said copying the way her father likes to say it. "I ended up finding a time travelling teleport on an intergalactic market, so I travelled to the 51st century where I met this group called the Time Agency. I went undercover and pretended to be one of them, and I found out they had a devise that could detect time distortions. And it turned that an event that was effecting the whole of time and space was happening right here, so I got a vortex manipulator and here I am!" she said happily.

The Master smiled at her.

"Oh and Donna says hi."

His smile faded. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I think it was pretty clear. Donna told me to tell you two 'hi'."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Jenny sceptically. "Jenny, Donna's gone."

"Not last time a checked. When I first teleported here I saw her on the other side of Rome building something."

"Our emperor is dead!" screamed Dalek Seven.

"The Daleks are leaderless!" Dalek Ukilnao screeched.

Dalek Omicron suddenly shook his dome/head-like thing. "No the emperor lives!"

Jenny, the Master and the Doctor suddenly turned around to see the demon getting off the ground. "Your inferior technology is no match for my power!" it screamed. "Now you will all die!"

There was another zapping noise and Donna appeared also with a vortex manipulator. "You didn't think you were getting rid of me that quickly, Time Boys!" Donna yelled happily.

"But," the Doctor said looked at her confused. "But… but you're dead!"

"It would have seemed like that, yeah."

"Semi-regeneration," Jenny said.

"Oh yes!"

The Master unexpectedly walked up to Donna and pulled her in for a hug. "I'm so sorry," he said as he released her.

"It's not your fault," she replied.

"How did you get a vortex manipulator?" the Doctor asked.

"I built it. You didn't erase the Doctor-Donna completely. Hah!"

"I'm so sorry. I should have trusted you, that you'd survive."

"What is with Time Lords and apologising?"

The demon leant down over them casting a huge shadow. "You must be silenced," he said. "I must kill you all now!"

"Excuse me, Mr Beastly Lord Ancient One," the Doctor said to him. "But I'm a little unsure of why you want to kill us all, why not just the Master and myself, not that I wish death upon us, I'm just curious?"

"The Ancient Legend," said Dalek Omicron.

"What legend?" the Master asked.

"Two Higher Beings and two Lower Beings will defeat the last Ancient Being."

"You stupid primitive!" the demon screamed as a bolt of power erupted from one of his hands and burnt the Dalek's shell also destroying it's interior.

"Why did you exterminate Dalek Omicron?" Dalek One asked. "He was one of Dalek kind."

"I am aware you was Dalek kind, but he deserved to die. Now you do too!"

The demon killed Dalek One too.

"Anyone else not happy?"

"Negitive. The Daleks must have self preservation," the remaining twelve Daleks said.

"But that's what one of those Slab thingies called me earlier. A lower being," Donna said. "Is Jenny the other one?"

"Affirmative!" another Dalek brave enough to speak up said. Getting their emotional inhibitors removed and stored again was probably making them mix up their commands. "Lower Beings are half Gallifreyan half Earthling. Donna and Jenny are both half Gallifreyan half Earthling."

"Oh of course!" the Doctor said realising the truth of it. "The meta-crisis didn't only effect Donna's mind, it was her biology too."

"Well obviously, she just semi-regenerated," the Master added.

"Yes, I'm just clarifying it out loud."

The Demon stared down at his Daleks scornfully. "You are my creations, you must not disobey my orders!" he yelled at them.

Isn't positive reinforcement better than punishment and scolding? Well clearly the demons aren't very motherly.

"You did not create us," the Daleks said together.

"I saved you from destruction, you owe me your lives!"

"Wait can we stop this whole big yelling thing just so I can get a word in," the Doctor said. Everyone turned to face him. "Thanks. Now I'm just wondering, how does the legend go, how do the Higher and Lower Beings stop the Ancient Being?"

"The legend says nothing of how it will happen," Dalek Six said.

"I will annihilate you all!" the demon screamed at the Daleks.

"Wow, someone needs to go to a mental hospital more than me," the Master joked.

"You never did. It's the drumming demons that needed to and this one still does," the Doctor replied.

They were a lot more relaxed now. It was mainly because the demon didn't really look like he was about to bring their inescapable death.

_'It's quite fun just standing here and watching Daleks and the Demon argue, but how are we going to kill it?' _the Master asked him through their minds.

_'Well clearly, Donna, Jenny, you and I have to come up with a plan to stop it.' _The Doctor replied.

_'And what exactly are we all going to do?'_

_'I'm lost.'_

_'And now you're found, come on use that big head of yours you love to brag about!'_

_'If the demon is distracted long enough, we can go back inside the TARDIS and then he will realise we're gone and come chasing after us, and lure him into the vortex, and then without a time capsule he'll just float through out the vortex, then we open the void using the TARDIS and send him back into that never ending darkness of his.'_

_'No, don't you see that he can still taunt us from within the void. We need to kill it! Those things tortured me for my whole life! I'm not just going to let the last one wonder around in the void!'_

_'What about Jack? You tortured and killed him multiple times and he's starting to forgive you.'_

_'That's different! He hasn't lived over one-thousand years and have everything ripped away from you at the age of 300!'_

_'Master… I'm sorry. I know what they did, but spending eternity in darkness, is the only thing we can do to it.'_

_'That thing destroyed my whole fucking life! Not only did it give me the infernal racket, but also it drove me mad, made me evil, took all my friends away from me, made me kill people, made me kill my own family! I never told you, did I?'_

Images of the Master's mother and father bleeding all over the floor at his old house filled their minds.

_'The drums thought they would stop me from reaching my destiny, so they made me kill them. My own parents blood all over my hands!'_

It was a horrible sight. The Master stood over their bodies with a grim look on his face, which then turned into a sinister smile.

_'But when I dropped you back of at Gallifrey they were there, I saw them.'_

_'And then you left me, and that drove me even more insane. I had no one to help with the drums, no one understood! I was all alone in my own pit of darkness! My parents tried to help, everyone in Oakdown did. They didn't want to have a weak link in the chain to greatness. Of course everyone who went to academy with us knew I was mad, but if the council found out I'd be eliminated for sure. Oh and you don't even know the worst of it. Each time when we got back to the academy after summer break and I had bruises and cuts on me and I never told you how I got them…'_

Of course the Doctor remembered that. He used to try to make Koschei tell him what happened, but he never did. Theta used to hold Koschei in his arms while he sat there trying to get the traumatic events of whatever happened on summer break out of his head, but he never told Theta what happened. Even when they opened up their minds to each other the events from then, and the drums, were always kept hidden deep in Koschei's mind.

_'Well that was the head of Oakdown's fault.' _The Master continued thinking. '_He never liked me when I was first loomed, but then after all of the stunts we pulled at school he got even madder and started to mind torture me every time I went home. It got even worse after that. He found the drums in my head and tried to rid me of them, but every time he tried they got worse, and then physical torture was introduced, that's how I got the cuts. When you left me on Gallifrey, he found me, and tortured me for hours. Other races always thought of us Time Lords as a peaceful race. Remember at the Death Zone, when Borusa betrayed the Time Lords and tried to gain immortality? Well he wasn't the only home-staying renegade. Lord Chief Oakdown tortured me for a while and then forced regeneration. You never did ask about how I regenerated the next time we met. That whole experience was the drums fault again. You know how some Time Lords have more advanced senses than others? Like how I was good at hypnotics, he was good at sensing the sanity levels of creatures. If the drums never infected me, then that would never have happened. And also then I never would have killed thousands of races for our little _game _through out the galaxies, and most importantly, I never would have lost you.' _

The Doctor looked at the Master with tears in his eyes. He felt guilty because he never realised how much pain the Master had suffered.

_'Don't blame yourself. I blame that bloody demon. Do you understand now, that I don't want to let that thing live on, it's just going to keep ripping us apart!' _the Master psychically yelled.

Throughout the 500 years that they were together for (300 in school, 150 living on Gallifrey, 50 travelling together), the Doctor had never ever actually heard the Master beg for something so emotionally before. He knew he had to eliminate that demon, or the Master will continue living with all this hate and sorrow, it has to die.

_'You're right. Always right. Why didn't you ever tell me what happened when you got back to Gallifrey until now?' _The Doctor asked.

_'You ran away from me and started travelling with humans, and when you finally came back to Gallifrey to pick up your little friend Susan, I couldn't even bare to think about you without crumbling apart, let alone talk to you about leaving me.'_

_'My poor Koschei, we'll kill it, and I'll never let it hurt you again!'_

_'All right! Lets kill this bastard!'_

"You two defeated the demons last time just with your minds, can't you do that again?" Donna said interrupting their psychic conversation and startling them both.

"H-how did you know what we were discussing?" the Doctor asked.

"Well your sending pretty loud psychic projections that any slightly psychic being could pick up a few words."

"We were in the void last time, and that place is a lot less physical than this world," the Master told her. "So it can't work."

"Well we got two and two halves of psychic minds here so why can't we do that again?" Jenny asked.

"Because it's still not enough," the Doctor said. "And this demon has grown too physically strong to be defeated by psychic energy."

"So we are lost?" Jenny asked.

"Not completely," the Master said. "We have the TARDIS, the most powerful ship in all of the universe."

"And finally you admit she's better than a calculator!" the Doctor interrupted happily.

The Master rolled his eyes. "When Rassilon, Omega and the Other started building time ships they put an energy in them called Untempered Power which like Artron Energy enables a TARDIS to connect to the vortex. It's basically what the Untempered Schism is made of. After the TARDIS type 50 they started using more Arton Energy and completely stopped using Untempered Energy, but it just so happens that we have a type 40 with us!"

"Oh yes! We could let the Untempered Energy devour the demon!"

"But how do you know that the energy will be enough?" Jenny asked.

"Because the schism had that energy to reach into the void and free the demons, so why can't it kill a demon? Perfect plan!" the Master said joyfully.

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and all four of them ran inside. The Demon was still arguing with the Daleks outside the TARDIS so he didn't even see them leave. The Doctor and the Master began pressing buttons to make the TARDIS attack the Demon with Untempered Energy but just the two of them wasn't enough.

"Jenny can you press that button there for ten seconds and then the switch there, and Donna can you pump that thing there and flick the yellow switch?" he asked his friends.

They did as they were told and the rotor began to move. They all ran back outside to see the lamp on top of the TARDIS start to glow and then a beam came out of it and hit the Demon. He began to fall to the ground knees first and then the rest of his body. "No!" he cried as all the life faded from his eyes.

The Daleks span around in circles with their ray guns and plumber tools twitching. They didn't know how to help their emperor so they resulted to spinning around.

"You will burn for as long as you live in loneliness!" the demon screamed in his weakening voice. "One of you will die and there is no way to stop it! I have seen all that is fixed in time, and one of your deaths is!"

The energy started to absorb the Demon until it was just a few atoms floating in the air that then broke down into nothingness.

"We did it!" cried Donna with delight. "We killed it!"

"We sure did!" the Doctor said grabbing onto the Master and kissing the life out of him.

"Go team TARDIS!" Jenny said.

The TARDIS groaned a happy groan.

"We have no purpose," Dalek Four said.

"What will we do now?" Dalek Five said.

"Daleks must exterminate other inferior life forms," Dalek Nine stated.

"But we are not true Daleks," said Dalek Delta Fluien.

"Affirmative!" they all yelled. "Initiate Self destruction process!"

The twelve Daleks burst into flames, frying the creature inside the shell also.

"Why'd they do that?" Jenny asked a little confused.

"No Dalek wants to live as an Untrue Dalek," the Doctor said as he walked in a little circle getting a view of what the great city of Rome had become.

"How are we going to get the city back to normal?" Jenny said also looking at the crumbling buildings and ashes.

"Well," the Doctor said. "I suppose we could just tell the people every thing's alright now, so they can come out of hiding and rebuild this brilliant city!" the Doctor said with a smile.

A woman ran out onto the street with a happy look on her face despite being covered in dirt. "Everything's alright?" she asked. "Everything is alright!" she then cheered.

"Yes, spread the word around!" the Doctor exclaimed throwing his arms up in the air and spinning. "Everything is perfect!"

"Well fighting Demons and Daleks has been fun, but I better be going back now," Jenny said.

"Are you sure you have to go?" the Doctor asked.

"There's always room for more," the Master said.

The Doctor looked at him as he was thinking about inviting all six and one half billion humans aboard the TARDIS.

"I mean there's always room for you," the Master corrected still looking at Jenny.

"Thanks, but no. I much rather see the universe, than have to fight for it," Jenny said with a sad smile.

"That vortex manipulator still work, or do you need a lift?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep, working fine," said Jenny.

"Well we better get going."

Donna was still standing by Jenny's side.

"You coming, Donna?" he asked.

Donna looked at the Doctor also sadly. "I know how much I went through to get back to you guys, but I wanted to see the universe too, I love you two like space brothers, but I died, and it wasn't fun."

The Master looked away guiltily.

"Please don't blame yourself, Master. It's no one but these giant pepper pots' fault," Donna continued. "Can I come with you, Jenny?"

A great big smile spread across Jenny's face. "Oh of course, I'd love to have you around!"

"Oh great!" Donna said also smiling. She and Jenny hugged and then turned back to the Time Lords. "Well I guess this is goodbye," she said.

"It's never goodbye!" the Doctor said as he hugged them both. "We got this whole big universe, we're bound to bang into each other another day down the track!"

"Oh come here you sulky Martian," Donna said as she and Jenny pulled the Master in for a hug.

He hugged them back still trying to get used to the whole hugging concept and then said. "Like the Doctor said, hope to see you lot later."

"Yes, see you later," the Doctor said smiling at his friends.

Donna and Jenny put there hands on the vortex manipulator and vanished into a blue flash.

"So I guess it's just you and me now," the Doctor said to the Master.

"And the TARDIS," the Master added.

"And that brilliant TARDIS of ours," the Doctor repeated. "So what about the frozen Daleks? What will happen to them?"

"Well them being suspended for so long will kill them, there whole atom structure will rip apart and they'll be dead already, no use for a reality bomb now."

"Great," the Doctor said smiling what the Master called his big stupid grin.

"Are you finally starting to get over your not killing problems?" the Master asked cheekily.

"No, I will always value life, and I will make you value it too."

"And how do plan on doing that?"

"By showing you that life is definitely worth living!" the Doctor said as he pulled the Master into the TARDIS.

"I'll be looking forward to it."

They both ran down the hallway happily knowing that they still had long happy lives together and they were inseparable… or are they?


	11. The Library

**Chapter 11**

**Author's Note: there is a lot of pointless chatter in this chapter, and the next few chapters might be a bit confusing but it will be explained later. Spoilers for Silence of the Library and obviously Last of the Time Lords. Thank you to all reviews, alerts and favourites. And happy new year for yesterday or today depending on where you are.**

**31**

The Library. It's literally a library planet. There is not a single room in that place that doesn't have at least one book. The Library currently had no humanoids on it besides him because the Vashta Nerada had claimed this planet and all of its books.

"Where, where, where?" he muttered as he flipped through the pages of random books.

He had no idea where to actually start looking.

"There's got to be something here somewhere!" he yelled in frustration. Time was running out and there was no way to stop the apparently inevitable besides to search for the book with the instructions. "Oh it's so him to just hide it in the biggest library in the universe…"

**32**

"The universe, such a brilliant place! I wish they had a planet that is just full of little gift shops! How great would that be! Oh I know! They could have a little shop representing each planet in the universe. One little shop per a planet, on a planet! And they could call it The Little Shop Planet! Ha! Master? Are you listening?"

The Master shook his head trying to get back to reality. "Err yeah fine…" he said.

The Doctor leant off his chair to look at the Master. "Are you sure you're okay?"

The Master nodded his head. The Doctor still looked very concerned. "Maybe we could take over some planet and then build it in your image!" the Master suggested with a big malicious smile on his face.

Annoyed, the Doctor closed his eyes and put his head back against his beach chair.

"Old habits die hard," the Master said trying to make an excuse.

"And you know what the amazing thing is?" the Doctor asked. "That I'm still with you, even though you think about these horrific things."

"Yes you're idea of a gift shop planet is quite horrific, but how could you not still be with me? Would you me unleash upon the universe to destroy what I desire?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Of course not. I could just lock you in the TARDIS, and you'd never get to leave."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea, you and me together all the time. No escaping."

The Doctor nudged the Master playfully. They were at a never-ending beach on Shrudunia. The beach is never ending because half of the planet is sand and the other half is water. Thousands of species were lined up along the equator to sit on the sand by the water. The Master had managed to convince the Doctor to bring beach seats out instead of sitting on the horrid sand.

Today they were having a break from saving the universe and were just relaxing under the three suns.

"Are there any other two sunned planets anymore?" the Master asked.

"There are a few, why?" the Doctor replied, while grabbed his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and sonic-ing his glasses so they would turn into sunglasses.

The Master already had some sunglasses on. For once he wasn't wearing a suit. He was wearing a white short-sleeve shirt, some black shorts and no shoes. The Doctor was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that was red with yellow bananas on strange angles all over it, some white shorts and also no shoes.

"I just miss it," the Master replied. "One sun is too cold, three is too hot."

The Doctor nodded. "I agree. Maybe we could go to one of the double sunned planets later."

"That'd be nice."

The bright blue waves continued whooshing up onto the bright yellow sand. Shrudunia had very bright colours compared to other planets. The water rushed up to some of the other aliens lying in the sunlight. The people that got wet had very irritated looks on their faces. Luckily to the Master's excellent thinking the water didn't get the two Time Lords, it just hit the legs of their chairs.

The Master laughed at the other people.

"Oh what would I do without you," the Doctor said, getting up off his chair when the water went away. He walked down the shore until the water was swimming around his ankles. "Fancy a walk down the beach?" the Doctor yelled back to the Master.

"No, I'm happy just sitting here," the Master told him.

"But you can't sit there all day!"

"I think you'll find that I can."

The Doctor bored, starting slightly kicking the water around him. "Please, Master."

"Nope."

The Doctor gave up and decided he would just have to sit down on his chair for the rest of the day. "Well I guess I'll just have to make sitting fun," he said as he took a seat on the Master's lap and kissed him.

"I'm fine with that," the Master said happily when they broke off from kissing. He brought his lips to the Doctor's again and they continued.

They weren't fully blending minds at the moment but they could still get a taste at each other's thoughts. A horrible ear splitting high-pitched noise suddenly ran through the Master's head.

The Doctor jumped off the Master in surprise, while the Master covered his ears with his hands. The noise stopped and the Master tried to catch his breath.

"What was that?" the Doctor asked him.

"That was…" he replied still trying to calm down. "That was… I have no idea."

"We should head back to the TARDIS and figure out what it is," the Doctor said probably not wanting random people on the beach to watch them psychically connecting.

"Yeah," the Master said still out of breath. He stood up and folded his chair as the Doctor did the same.

They walked back up the mountains of sand to where they had parked the TARDIS. The noise suddenly filled the Master's head again and he fell down to the ground.

"Master!" the Doctor yelled as he grabbed him up from the ground and carried him bride stile back to the TARDIS, while carrying two chairs, bless his Time Lord strength.

The TARDIS door obediently opened without the Doctor even having to put the key in. He ran through the doors, threw the chairs down on the ground and kept running to the medical bay. It was the first door in the corridor. He lied the Master down on a bed and then sat on the chair next to it.

The Master starting to gain control of his body again sat up and faced the Doctor with his legs swinging off over the bed. The Doctor put his fingers against the Master's temples and dove into his mind.

_'It's okay, I'm here,' _the Doctor told him through their minds.

_'I know you're here. I'm in pain, Doctor, not stupid,' _the Master replied mentally rolling his eyes.

_'Why did the noise go off?'_

_'You think I wouldn't tell you if I knew?'_

_'Sorry, let me rephrase that. What were you thinking about when it happened both times?'_

The Master searched through his own memories. _'You.'_

_'So I trigged it?'_

_'No, I thought of you and it happened.'_

_'So you've only thought of me twice?'_

_'No. I was thinking about the fact that we were together and I didn't want that to end, if you really want me to get grossly sentimental about it.'_

_'Oh Master how sweet…"_

_"Shut up, you asked, I answered, now get on with the doctor's appointment.'_

_'Right, umm… so how many times have you heard the noise?'_

_"Twice, you'd know if I heard it more.'_

_'There's nothing connected to your mind besides the TARDIS and I. I don't know what it could be."_

_"It's probably nothing. Just an annoying psychic projection of some kind in my head.'_

_'That happens when you think about us. What have you been dreaming about?'_

_'Nothing much. Didn't the Time Lords at the Prydonian rid us of dreams? Well it obviously didn't work with you. Every single night I had to wake up to your screaming.'_

_'Hey, you dream too, I just dream a bit… louder."_

_'If that's how you want to put it.'_

_'So back to the point, tell me about these dreams that mean nothing much.'_

_'It's hard to explain.'_

_'Show me.'_

Different images flickered through their minds as the Doctor pulled them out. The library. The book. The page. The solution.

The Doctor gasped as the images stopped. He removed his fingertips from the Master's head. "That's the Library," he said.

"Wow, I didn't know that," the Master said sarcastically.

"Why would you be dreaming about books?"

"Most Time Lords dream their memories. What can I say, I'm special."

"Yes but have you even ever been to the Library?"

"Nope, and can't say I want to."

The TARDIS suddenly whined.

"Oh what is it now?" the Doctor asked as he jumped off his seat and ran to the control room.

The Master slowly followed. "We really need to buy her that calculator!" he yelled.

When the Doctor got to the room he span the screen to face him. "Hmm oncoming transmission," he said.

"Is it one of your pets?" the Master asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "No idea, but we'll find out soon."

The Master peered over the Doctor's shoulder to see the screen just full of pixilated stuff. It then filled with the face of Captain Freak. "When are you going to put down those pets?" the Master whined. "If they can't be independent kill them, put them out of their misery. Hello Captain of Freakiness"

"Great to see you too Master of Migraines!" Jack replied with false cheerfulness.

Upset, the Master walked away from the screen and headed over to the chair so he wouldn't have to see Jack's ugly face.

"Jack, please be nice to the Master. He's not well," the Doctor told Jack.

"Is he ever well?" Jack asked mockingly.

The Doctor exhaled tiredly. The last thing he needed is an angry Master. "Tell me what you want," he ordered.

"What no hello, no how have you been going since our last catch-up where we had to kill demons before they destroyed the universe?"

The Doctor waited.

"Okay, all business then? Well we've been having problems with the rift…"

"What type of problems?" the Doctor interrupted.

"Umm how do I put this? Our manipulator has been stolen."

"What? But why? What use is a rift manipulator besides manipulating rifts?"

"We once had a friend that liked to steal stuff. Ah dear old Ushas, where would we have been without or ever so faithful friend the Rani?" the Master asked gazing over at the Doctor.

"Well we would never have stolen this TARDIS, if she hadn't formulated that knockout gas for the guards. I don't see why you need to guard TARDIS's that are getting decommissioned," the Doctor replied wistfully.

"Well obviously because people like us would steal them."

"And how many people like us are there?"

"Well you're up to your 10th regeneration, and I've gone through around 17 bodies so 27 people like us."

"The 27 people are us, doesn't count. Well really we change a little bit each second, you could be a nice person at the start of the day and a mean person at the end. So we could count how many seconds we've lived for and then we'll work out how many people are like us, or are us."

"But your forgetting future selves. Before we permanently die– which will never ever happen by the way– we should add up how many seconds."

"Oh good thinking. But what about us in parallel worlds? We'll have to work out how long they lived for too. Oh wait, didn't Rassilon cancel out the Time Lord society in every universe besides our own because he didn't like the thought of parallel society that might be better than our own?"

"I thought that was just a theory?"

"No idea, I heard it off Millennia."

"Jelpax told me the same thing once I think."

"Drax told me that it wasn't true though."

"Drax lies."

"Everyone lies."

"Even the honest Doctor?"

"Even the honest Doctor." the Doctor confirmed.

"Umm excuse me," Jack interrupted. The Doctor looked over at him with annoyance, it made the Master very happy.

"What Jack?"

"The rift manipulator."

"What about it?"

"It's been stolen. Literally ripped out of the hub."

"Can't you call the police?" the Master asked as he came back over to stand by the Doctor's side.

"No, it's alien technology."

"I use alien technology all the time, it's no big deal. Well it's alien to you Earthlings, not to me, coz I made it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Doctor, so can you get here?"

"Date?" the Doctor asked.

"27th December 2010, 10:30am."

"We'll be there."

"Can't the Master be confined to the TARDIS?"

"No, I've never told you to stay in the TARDIS when we land somewhere, I'm not doing it to the Master."

"And besides," the Master said smiling. "He likes me better than you!"

With that the screen turned black. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at the Master.

"Well you do, don't you?" the Master asked as he sat down on the Doctor's lap.

"Yeah, but he doesn't need to know that," the Doctor said trying not to hurt the Master's feelings.

"Trying not to hurt my feelings are you?" he asked looking into the Doctor's head. "I can leave anytime I like, you know?"

The Doctor shook his head as he rapped his arms around the Master. "Nope, your mine. And I'm not letting you leave. And don't forget you're still my prisoner."

"Oh yes Captor. Are you suggesting chaining me?"

"Come on," the Doctor said as he shoved the Master off him and set the TARDIS coordinates.

"I don't wanna go to Torchwood," whined the Master.

"You can stay in the TARDIS like Jack suggested."

"How about we stay in the TARDIS together. We can just land the TARDIS there and not come out. Most ingenious plan I've ever thought of."

The Doctor laughed and shook his head. "Some one has stolen the rift manipulator. The manipulator can also effect time, do you really want someone to be running around with some thing that can affect ours. Awhile go didn't you say that time is our right? Not anyone else's?"

"I say many things my dear Doctor."

"Is that so my dear Master?"

"I'm the only one who gets to call everyone 'dear'!" the Master yelled.

"I don't recall you calling anyone that this regeneration."

"I guess you're right about that."

"Ever since you saw that picture of a dear, you've become obsessed!" the Doctor joked.

"Well dears are better than apes."

"Lets not have this debate, help me land the TARDIS."

"What's in it for me?"

"Fine, I'll do it by myself, and we'll have a very rickety ride!" the Doctor said cheerfully and he ran around the TARDIS and tried to land it.

The Master reluctantly joined in. The Doctor smiled. "It seems I'm not the only one who likes a little power over someone," the Master commented.

"To Torchwood!" the Doctor said as he skipped over to the door and pulled it open.

They stepped outside into the Torchwood hub. The Master closed the TARDIS door.

"Oh hello," Ianto said as he appeared from a doorway. "Jack said you'd be arriving soon. Want some coffee?"

The Doctor smiled at him. "Sure."

"No," the Master said as he walked up to destruction in the centre of the hub. "Wow," was all he could say.

Jack was right. The whole thing had just been pulled out. The Master got out his lazer screwdriver and scanned the area.

"There's traces of heat around the area," he informed the others. "Who ever took it probably used some kind of hot weapon or machine."

"You're helping now?" the Doctor asked.

"I know that the sooner we get this done, the sooner we leave."

"Good point." The Doctor sipped his coffee. "Wow that is great! What did you use? It can't be normal coffee. Well what is normal coffee anyway? Everyone makes coffee differently."

"I'm not aloud to tell anyone how I make it," Ianto told him.

"Why not?"

"Jack said he wants no one else to know so he can have my magical coffee all to himself."

"Another good point."

Jack entered the room with a great big smile on his face. He shook the Doctor's hand and then hugged him. The Master looked at Jack annoyingly. Why do all humans love to hug the Doctor so much? "Two days too late," Jack said.

"Well it's better than two years," the Doctor said happily.

"And that's what happens when you start off trying to fly it solo," the Master said not looking at them. He was still concentrating on the area where the manipulator had been taken. "It might not have been a hot instrument. It could just be the affect of using a powerful energy to rip it from the ground."

"Like what?" Jack asked.

"I can't say. But it must be really powerful."

The Doctor walked over to the destruction, stuck his tongue out and moved his head around trying to get some of the air on his tongue.

"Taste good?" Ianto asked.

"It tastes kind of metallic. I don't know," the Doctor said as he ran a hand through his hair.

He does have good hair. What the Master would give to run his hands through that spiky gel filled hair. Oh and lick that metallic taste right off his tongue.

"When can we leave," the Master asked in a childish whining manner.

"Soon," the Doctor replied as he strutted back down to the captain. "So why do you need us again?"

"We thought you might be able to trace the rift manipulator with the TARDIS," Jack said.

"Actually it might be good that someone took that manipulator out of your hands, what have you been doing with time?" the Doctor asked.

Jack scoffed. "We do more good than we do bad."

The Master was standing in the distance with his mouth open in shock.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked. "Are you okay?"

The Master nodded. "Yeah, fine. I was on Earth in 2007," he said.

"How could I ever forget," Jack said grudgingly.

One day in 2007 the drums had increased rapidly in the Master's head, it got that bad that by the end of it he was on the floor screaming with blood coming out of his ears.

"You let a demon through the rift!" the Master said in realisation and shock.

The Doctor looked at Jack and Ianto with hate. "And straight when I start accepting Torchwood I find out this!" he said to them.

He knew how the Master felt about this and feelings were contagious. "Torchwood: defenders of the Earth!" the Master spat out each word with disgust. "No lets not only destroy the Earth, lets destroy the whole sodding universe by letting a demon through the rift!" he mocked.

"It wasn't like that," Jack claimed. "It was this Bilis guys fault. He manipulated us into opening the rift."

"I don't wanna hear it Jack!" the Master yelled. "After everything we've been through! You go and do this, how can I ever trust you again! Do you even know how much those things affected the Master!"

Jack raised his eyebrows in confusion. The Master suddenly realised he was voicing the Doctor's thoughts. At times when one of them was expressing strong emotion there thoughts tend to blend together.

"Umm," the Doctor said. "I was meant to say that."

"I think it's about to happen again" the Master began to say. Suddenly the noise ripped through his head again.

"Oh my Lords!" the Doctor yelled as he ran over to the Master and hauled him up. He then pulled him through the TARDIS doors.

Ianto looked questionably at Jack.

"I have no idea," Jack replied.

The Master's consciousness couldn't cope with the sound so he fainted.

**33**

The Master's eyes slowly closed as the Doctor rushed him to the medical room.

"Stay awake," the Doctor urged.

He didn't. The Doctor's bedroom, which they'd now both started sleeping in, was closer than the medical room so he lowered the Master down onto the bed. He put his fingertips on the Master's temples and looked into his mind again.

_Library. Search. Find. How? Death. Life. Rift._

The Master was dreaming again. He was running down some corridors of the Library with a determined look on his face. "Where is it!" he yelled. Tears began to run down the Master's face as he searched for the unknown.

The Doctor couldn't stand to see his poor Koschei like this so he tried to enter the dream. He materialised in front of the Master. The Master's mouth dropped open in shock. He tried to run up to the Doctor but ran right through him.

"No!" he yelled. "I've gone mad again!"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, this is a dream it's okay. I'm just projecting into your dream. But I don't know why you can't touch me though," he said with confusion.

"Oh," the Master said as if he were realising something. "I'm in the TARDIS dreaming of this, when we arrived at Torchwood?"

"Yes…"

"Stupid paradoxes. Those idiots at the academy thought they taught us everything about paradoxes."

"Paradoxes? What do you mean?"

"I'm dreaming of the future, you're in my head so now you've telepathically arrived in the future."

The Doctor didn't understand any of this. How is it possible? How can it happen to any sane Time Lord?

"I'm not sane," the Master answered. "I've truly cracked it now. My mind is shattering which is blending past and future selves dreams and realities together."

He was surprisingly calm about this. But what had happened?

"Time lines, Doctor. You know the rules. I can't tell you."

"If you're from the future then how come you can read my thoughts?" the Doctor asked.

"I remember what you were thinking from back then."

"Oh, well what are you searching for? Maybe I can help."

The Master's face suddenly lit up. "Oh yes you can! I should have thought of this earlier. Then again, I guess I did. I'm searching for a book, and a page in the book."

"Going to tell me what book."

"You were here a while ago, at the Library. A woman gave you a blue book. That book has the instructions."

"River? Her diary?"

The Master shook his head. "It's not a diary and she's not a real person. She was really a 4D hologram that the TARDIS designed to help you."

No wonder she knew his real name! Only the Master and the TARDIS know that. But save him? From what?

"To save me?" the Doctor asked.

"I've already told you too much. Just help me find the book. Where did you put it?"

"A ledge, follow me!"

The Doctor ran down the corridors with the Master trailing behind him. They ran past many shelves of books for a long time but didn't stop once. Eventually they got to the area where the Doctor had put the book. It was surprisingly still sitting there. The Master must have arrived not too long after him.

The Master picked up the book and flipped through the pages until he got to the one he wanted. "Yes!" he screamed. "It's here!" He smiled at the Doctor. "I hate you so much," he said kindly. "But I love you more."

The Doctor smiled back at him despite having no idea what was going on. He faded from the library and awakened into the present. The Master was still lying down sleeping with a smile on his face. His eyes suddenly snapped open. "Ow," he said.

"How's you're head?" the Doctor asked.

"Better. What happened?"

"You don't remember? You probably wouldn't. I was filling up your headspace. Nothing to worry about now. Lets say we track the rift manipulator and then we might just go searching for a planet filled with little shops. And I might let you rule it."

The Master sat up. "Great idea!"

Jack, Ianto and Gwen walked into the room. The Doctor must have taken a long time in the Master's head if Gwen had arrived.

"All sorted out now?" Jack asked.

"How long were we out?" the Doctor asked.

"About 10 hours," Jack said looking at his vortex manipulator, which told the time.

"That long?" the Master asked, as he and the Doctor stood up still slightly dizzy.

"Yes, we were beginning to think you'd fallen asleep," Gwen said.

They all walked out of the Doctor's room and headed towards the console room. The Doctor was slightly disappointed that Gwen and Ianto didn't comment on how big the inside of the TARDIS was, that was always his favourite part.

_'Oh yes, you got to love the stupidity of humans. They always make you look like a genius,' _the Master commented in his head.

_'I am a genius, and they aren't stupid, just… not as smart as us,' _the Doctor replied.

**AN: sorry to all River fans about making her a 4D hologram (by 4D i mean the hologram can interfere with the surroundings) but it's all part of this very confusing plot i thought up. I had to start writing this chapter three times before i finally managed to form my idea. So I hope you like it. **

**Please review.**


	12. Planet of the Shops

**Chapter 12**

**Author's Note: this chapter may seem really quick, but i really just want to skip ahead to the bigger part of the plot coming up soon. There are no spoilers and no warnings. I disclaim to own Doctor Who or anything associated with it.**

**34**

They all walked to the console room and then the Doctor typed some commands into the TARDIS.

The Doctor and the Master had been psychically communicating for 10 whole hours. That is an awfully long time. Jack started to wonder why the Master had fainted. "So why were guys doing whatever you were doing?" Jack asked feeling awkward because he knew that psychic communication is a sensitive topic.

"The Master was having some mental paradoxical problems, all fixed now," the Doctor said not explaining much.

The Master sat on the TARDIS console avoiding the switches, near where the Doctor was standing. He swung his legs childishly. Time Lords are quite childish, well the two that Jack met are. The Doctor looked at the Master lovingly?

What had happened between them since the last time Jack had seen them? If they really were together now, Jack was sure he'd be sick.

"So what does it say?" Jack asked breaking the silence that was only awkward to Jack.

"Huh?" the Doctor asked. He then looked over at the screen and remembered what he was doing. "It is located in the Mutters Spiral, Milky Way, Sol System," the Doctor called out as he read the details as they appeared. "Sol 3, Wales, Cardiff Bay, Torchwood Tower."

"What?" Jack asked. "But that's here."

"Wise guess, Freak," the Master said.

"But we were just out there," Gwen said sceptically.

"The rift manipulator wasn't there," Ianto said with confusion.

Jack walked out of the open TARDIS doorway. "How?" he asked no one in particular. It was there. Just sitting in the hub like it always had.

The rest of the Torchwood members stared gaping at it while the Time Lords exited the TARDIS.

The Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver over the area. "Same process was used to place it back. The metallic energy," the Doctor said.

"How can energy be metallic?" Gwen asked.

"It tastes metallic, is what I mean," the Doctor corrected.

Gwen looked quite perplexed.

"He likes to taste air," the Master said.

"Hold on," Jack said. "Don't you think the metallic taste could be the taste of the metal from the rift manipulator?"

"Oh," the Doctor said. "That could be why as well."

Jack smiled. "I outsmarted the most intelligent race in the universe," he said proudly.

"Wow Jack," the Master said sarcastically. "You're amazing. I never would have thought someone would realise that the manipulator is metallic!"

"That doesn't make sense," Jack argued. "You two didn't even come to conclusion that the taste could be from the actually manipulator it's self and not the devise to remove it, and I did. You can't say that when you didn't even realise."

"I can say anything I like," the Master said.

Jack felt like once again walking up to the Master and breaking his neck. Out of all Time Lords why did the Master have to survive? It would be so much better if the Doctor were tied to a nice Time Lord, one who didn't torture him for a whole year. But then again, the Doctor and the Master do seem pretty close, not only because they're the last of their kind.

"So how did it come back?" Jack asked.

"Well who ever did it must have been pretty good with mechanics, it looks like it hasn't been removed at all," the Doctor said.

"Maybe they just needed to borrow it," said Gwen.

"But what use would it be to anyone?" Jack questioned.

"I'm sure you could think of a few uses for it," the Master said snidely.

Jack smiled sweetly at the Master and then turned away from him trying not to punch him.

"Well now that that's solved we have to head off," the Doctor said.

"You sure you don't wanna stay?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Nope, we've got some little shops to head off to!" he said cheerfully.

"And rule over!" the Master added.

Jack looked questionably at the Doctor.

"I promised him," the Doctor replied innocently.

"Please don't tell me he's been hypnotising you to take over planets?" Jack asked.

"No. We aren't going to enslave people or anything, just be the rulers of a little shop planet, sounds fun doesn't it?"

The Doctor was acting very out of character. Why would he want to rule a planet? Even if he's trying to make the Master feel better after his pathetic little fainting experience, letting him rule over a planet is a bit too much. "What has he been doing to you, Doc?" Jack asked concernedly.

"What? He's been doing nothing!" the Doctor yelled almost indignantly.

"Why do you immediately jump to the conclusion that I've been doing something?" the Master asked. He then looked over at the Doctor with a mischievous smile and something flashed between their eyes.

Doing something. Doing the Doctor. "Oh no," Jack said. "Doctor, please don't tell me you're…"

The Doctor looked away nervously.

"You aren't, are you? Please Doctor, look me in the eyes and tell me you're not!"

The Doctor didn't. So that means he and the Master are actually together! The Master who tortured him continuously for a year, decimated the human race, and tried to take over the universe! "Leave," Jack ordered quietly.

"Jack, he's changed. You know it was the drums, the demons," the Doctor tried to make excuses.

"You sicken me, Doctor," Jack replied. "Back on the Valiant when you said you would keep the Master, I thought that involved locking him in a dungeon! I always looked up to you, and now you do this to me!"

"I knew the Master way before I met you, Jack. He was a good person and he still is. And I've always loved him and I won't stop loving him!" the Doctor yelled back in reply.

"Get out," Jack yelled. "Leave now!"

The Doctor looked sadly at Jack. Jack felt like saying that it's okay, but it's not. How could he love that monster? The emotions the Time Lords felt seemed to flare through both of them. That was probably why the Doctor felt like ruling a planet. The Doctor was very sad, but that reflected through the Master as anger.

The Time Lords turned around and got into the TARDIS. It stayed there for a while and then faded from view. Jack shook his head in sadness because of fighting with the Doctor, anger because he felt betrayed and disgust because he actually loved the Master. Jack then turned around and walked back into his office for some serious thinking.

**35**

"Are you alright?" the Master asked the Doctor feeling kind of awkward.

The Doctor nodded sadly.

The Master started to actually feel guilty about this fight with Jack. It was all his fault. He tortured him and tried to kill off the rest of the humans on Earth.

"It's not you're fault," the Doctor denied.

"It is," the Master said as he walked back down the corridors to stay in his room for a while and try to get rid of these annoying emotions.

"Please don't go," the Doctor said. "How about we search for that shop planet."

A smile spread across the Master's face. "You and you're little shops," the Master said as he walked back to the console and typed in some commands to start the flight.

The Doctor smiled to as he scanned the area for a planet of that description.

"Who would have thought we could work this out?" the Master said. "I always thought that you'd be saving planets for the rest of your lives and I'd be ruling them, but look at us; saving planets and now going to rule one together."

"But no slavery, hypnotics, murder or harming anyone," the Doctor said pointing a finger at the Master.

"Oh you take all the fun out of it. Then how do we get them to believe we are the new rulers?"

"Psychic paper!" The Doctor held up his psychic paper triumphantly.

"That is your massive plan. Waltz into a place with no idea what the government system is like, no idea how to overrule them, and no plan at all besides show them psychic paper?" the Master asked sceptically.

"Yep," the Doctor replied. "You know me, I always love to rush into things plan-less. It's what makes life fun!"

The Master breathed a sigh of annoyance. "Fine, at least tell me what the paper will say?"

"Most probably that we are the new temporary rulers of the planet and that we're better than the current rulers."

"Didn't I teach you anything about taking over planets when we used to play those games when we were Time Tots?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No you always made me your prisoner."

"Mmm I did, didn't I?" the Master laughed.

The TARDIS beeped telling the Time Lords it found the perfect place.

"Well shall we land?" the Doctor said as he and the Master got into action.

They landed the TARDIS flawlessly and swung the door open to the correct destination.

The Doctor stood still frozen in excitement. He clearly likes little shops. The Master pushed past him and looked around at his soon to be new empire. Okay it might not be as wonderful as other planets he'd taken over but it still brought him excitement.

"Lets go rule this empire," he said evilly despite knowing how un-evil it really was.

"How about we call it temporarily rule," the Doctor added.

"What ever makes you happy, darling," the Master said cheesily.

The Master was bit out of practise since his second time in the Time War, but it was all coming back now. Sure the drums might be gone, but that doesn't stop his liking for power.

The Doctor stepped out of the doorway and closed it behind himself. The planet didn't look that bad. The city they were in had lots of shops going up a hill. There were also light purple trees with maple leaves and strange furry sphere shaped white puffballs. There seriously was a shop for every planet on this planet. Some of the names the Master had been to but others he hadn't heard of. There was also a statue in the distance. Some stairs led up to a bigger building that was higher up the hill. The building said 'Shop Planet' on it. The Master presumed it was wear the rulers watched over their empire. If not, it will be now.

The Master marched off to the huge staircase that wound up the hill with the Doctor following behind him.

"So where are we off to?" the Doctor asked excitingly. Maybe the Master could show the Doctor how brilliant it is to have power.

"That building there. After we take over this place you can look in your little shops," the Master said pointing to the building.

The Doctor and him continued to walked up the stairs until they eventually got to the building. The guards standing in front of the main entrance were wearing a white long-sleeve top, white pants and white shoes, with a white cape that had puffy shoulders. The guards were part of the main species on that planet. They had pure white skin, a baldhead and purple eyes.

The Time Lords had changed back into their suits by now. When they walked up to the guards they withdrew their swords from their holsters. "Why are you trying to enter our masters' castle?" the guards asked in symmetry. They must be slightly telepathic to do that, hopefully they still fall for the psychic paper.

"I think you'll find there's only one Master here," the Master told them.

Before he got the urge to hypnotise them the Doctor held his psychic paper up to them. "Hello, we're here because we heard that you're planet needs new masters. The council appointed us to come here to take our positions as the new masters," he told them.

"We never heard about that," the guards said looking at the paper.

"It's been kept secret from the rest of the world, only officials know."

"So will you be so kind and let us through," the Master said throwing on his charm and smiling his Harold Saxon smile that everyone falls for even without hypnotics.

"I guess we don't have a choice. If the officials want you here, then you're free to pass," the guards said.

They removed their swords and stood aside. The Time Lords walked through the door and headed in the direction they thought the masters would be.

"That was surprisingly easy," the Master said.

"Just because we're doing this today, doesn't mean we will all the time," the Doctor warned.

"Yep," replied the Master.

They ran up another set of stairs until they got to the place. The room was quite modern, well 21st century modern. It had white walls with vines that had leaves and puffballs on them. These people certainly like their whites and purples.

There was a desk with three of those people sitting there with purple chef-like hats.

"Hi there," the Doctor said. "I think you know who we are," he said he showed them his psychic paper.

"The temporary masters of S4P! Have we been fired?" they all asked.

The Master could tell the Doctor was feeling kind of guilty about doing this so the Master added, "Only temporarily."

"We guess it's about time anyway," the S4P'ians said.

"S4P? Is that where we are?" the Doctor asked. "What does it stand for?"

"Shops for planets. The peoples of Earth like to change words into numbers and letters, so we adapted that."

"It always comes back to Earth," the Master mumbled.

"Fun," the Doctor said. "So, umm… how do we do this?"

"We tell them to leave," the Master said. "Off you go now!"

The S4P'ains scrambled out of the room quite scared. The Master smiled, they obeyed him.

"Right," the Doctor said. "So what do we do now?"

"Well we've already over thrown their the little government they have, now we make it public!" he said happily.

"Fun" the Doctor said again. "How exactly do we do that?"

"Well I don't think this primitive planet has any technology so we can't televise it. Instead put up banners and posters stating S4P has new management."

"You should write a book on how to take over planets, Master."

"Didn't you read my autobiography? We need to get people to make signs."

"I told you, know slavery!"

"Doctor, we are the rulers of this place. We will have willing volunteers. My subjects!" the Master yelled.

Some S4P'ains and other humanoids ran into the room.

"Alert the world that they have new masters," he ordered them. "Also get us some thrones."

The citizens ran off to do just that.

"Oh Doctor, you're going to love this," the Master said.

There was one remaining person standing there.

"There is a blue call box outside, bring it to us," he ordered her.

She also ran off to do her job.

**37**

For the next few hours the Master ordered willing people to do jobs for him and decorate the castle, which wasn't really a castle, it was just a building that held what the Master referred to the Doctor and himself as royalty.

The TARDIS was also named one of the new masters. This wasn't the Master's madness; it was Koschei's awesomeness, Theta thought.

The Doctor and the Master sat in their thrones looking out the window down on their empire. "Well this is all quite nice really," the Doctor said. "But what do we do now?"

"Well now's about time when you're supposed to rush in and save all of these innocent people from the big bad Master," the Master said playfully.

"So I'm supposed to crush your ingenious plans to the ground, oh Koschei how did we ever survive like that?"

"We didn't. Well you're already here, so there's nothing much else to do."

"Is it really this boring waiting for me to show up all the time?"

"To be honest, the best part is when you arrive." The Master got up off his throne as a humanoid walked into the room holding a pillow with two crowns on it. He picked one up and placed it on his own head then picked up the other and shooed the girl away.

He then walked over to the Doctor's throne, sat on his lap, placed the throne on his head and smiled with satisfaction.

"There Thet, now you look like a true ruler," he said.

It was really reminding them of their little games as children. The Doctor was actually enjoying himself. "I have an idea of what we could do," he said.

He put his lips to the Master's. The two last Time Lords were so opposite yet so similar and fitted together perfectly. Seven hundred years of fighting hadn't changed how they feel about each other at all.

The TARDIS also had a giant crown on top of her as well. Her light suddenly started flashing and she projected a message into the Time Lords minds. She said there is a Time altering being nearby.

_'What type of being?' _the Doctor asked.

The TARDIS did not reply. The Master got up off the Doctor and span around the room searching for what ever it was. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to scan for it.

"Time altering," the Doctor mused. "Reapers? But I don't see why they'd need to be here."

"Lonely Assassins?" the Master suggested.

"Weeping Angels."

"What?"

"They're called Weeping Angels now."

"Let me guess, they were named by a human?"

The Doctor nodded.

The Master laughed. "Weeping Angels? Are you serious? I thought Lonely Assassins was bad enough, but Weeping Angels? That makes them sound even more pitiful. Imagine that, you meet someone and don't like them, so you fight them and so on, but then they ask what species you are, Weeping Angel. Pathetic. I'm an angel that cries and I will kill you all! Wow, these humans have really out done themselves."

"Shh, I'm listening," the Doctor shushed.

"Listening to what exactly?"

"Obviously time influential beings."

"Every being can influence time."

"Yeah, but…"

"It's probably just some slightly time aware insignificant person, I wouldn't worry about it."

"I can't not worry about it, unlike you I care about preserving the time lines, we've done enough interfering just by being here."

The Master's mouth dropped open. "Did I just hear the time line meddling Doctor talk about interference laws?" he asked sceptically.

"Umm yeah, I think you did. Didn't you mention earlier that time is our right, being Time Lords, so wouldn't you want to protect time if it's ours?"

"Let's not go into this now, there are heaps of different things we can do here."

The Doctor jumped with excitement. "We could look at the little shops!" he said excitingly.

"Yeah, I guess we can," the Master smiled.

The next few hours consisted of the Doctor actively running around to little shops with the Master being dragged along behind him. So it wasn't exactly like the Master wanted to rule a planet, but he wasn't complaining. The Doctor had bought many little trinkets from many shops. The citizens of S4P were quite excited about seeing their new leaders when they entered lots of the stores. The temporal disturbance didn't make another appearance so as the Master foresaw it mustn't be important.

"Well I'm just about done," the Doctor interrupted his thoughts. "What do you want to do next?"

"We could…" the Master began to say.

Suddenly a psychic tugging alerted them. The Doctor pulled his psychic paper out of his pocket.

"What is it?" the Master asked.

"Someone wants our help," the Doctor replied while reading the paper.

"Oh but we're hardly done ruling here. One day is nowhere near long enough."

"We have to go immediately. We have no idea what could be happening."

"We have a time machine, Doctor. I doubt anything will happen between the time the person sent it and the time we arrive."

"Look I can't just stay here while someone needs our help, please Master. I let you rule this place for a while, now can't you do something for me?"

The Master sighed. "Fine, I guess I should be grateful I got this time," he said reluctantly.

"Good," the Doctor said.

They ran out of the shop for planet Zipponia and ran back up the outdoor stairs passing all the giant trees. On the way there they bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry, let me help you with that," the Doctor said as he picked up the persons items that had fallen on the ground.

When he handed it to the S4P'ian her eyes widened in sudden realisation that she'd just bumped into one of the leaders. "Oh very, very sorry!" she said. "I beg for your forgiveness!"

The Master smiled at how these people looked up to their rulers with such respect.

"No problem," the Doctor said. "Can you deliver a message to the past master's and tell them their vacation is being cut short."

The woman looked horrified. "I don't understand."

"It's time for us to go, so can you do that?"

"Erm yes, but why, you just became our masters?"

"How is that any of your business?" the Master asked coldly. "Are you denying us of the right to leave?" He loved seeing the looks of horror on people.

"No, no definitely not!" she said. "I will report that message. Have a nice life." She then ran off to do that.

"Could you be any more rude?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep," the Master said.

The Doctor shook his head annoyingly and sighed. The Master started to feel a tad guilty now, why was he feeling so agitated?

They finished hiking up the outdoor stairs, then entered the castle and climbed up the next set of stairs. They really need some more technology here.

The TARDIS was waiting in the corner of the room still with its fancy crown on. The Time Lords entered the TARDIS, and set the coordinates for the location where the psychic paper message was sent. The TARDIS landed pleasantly.

**38**

The Doctor could sense that the Master felt really troubled for some strange reason. He sat down in the chair with a hand on his forehead. The Doctor decided he'd give the Master a chance to rest and leave the TARDIS without him.

He opened the door and stepped out into some kind of indoor petrol station. It was like a huge metal room that floated through space for space ships to fly through the big doors to fill up their petrol tanks. The doors were currently closed, so it must be an abandoned station. It was quite dark, but the Doctor could still vaguely see the empty shed-like room around him.

A noise suddenly filled the deserted room. A police box materialised in the corner of the room.

"What?" he asked no one. Was it possible that two times in the Doctor's time line could have gotten the message?

The TARDIS door opened and a version of the Master came running toward him. He stopped when they were within reaching distance. The Doctor could tell he was around the same age as the one in the Library by the look in his eyes.

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something going along the lines of 'why in the deepest pits of the death zone, are you here'? But the Master pushed his lips against the Doctor. The Doctor felt slightly bad about kissing him back, when the Master in the TARDIS was his, not this man, but then again they are the same man, so what does it matter?

The future Master ran his hands through the Doctor's hair and then pulled a strand out. He then pulled back and ran back to his TARDIS.

"What was that for?" the Doctor asked rubbing his head where the hair had come out.

"You," the Master replied before he ducked back into his TARDIS and it began to dematerialise.

The Doctor stood there, dumbfound for a while before his current Master came out of his TARDIS.

"What happened to you? I would say you look like you've seen a ghost, but I am so sick of Earth literature that always has that stupid, stupid saying in it. Honestly, in every single piece of writing from that planet I have read they always say 'you look like you're seen a ghost'. I am so sick of it," the Master said.

"Umm, n-nothing," the Doctor mumbled still slightly confused looking at the spot where the other TARDIS previously stood.

"You call this nothing?"

The Doctor looked at the Master. "Call what nothing?"

"Arton energy remains in the air, supposing left behind from the dematerialisation of a TARDIS that happened recently. So obviously another TARDIS just left," the Master said smugly.

"Mmm good point."

"So are you going to tell me what happened?"

"I don't think you should know, time lines and all that."

"Oh please tell me? The Master pouted.

"I can't, it might cause a paradox within a paradox."

"But if that was me, and you don't tell me it was, then I wouldn't know to appear here later, and then it would become a paradox within a paradox."

The Master had a point. The Doctor didn't see why he'd need to steal a lock of his hair, but it might be important, so he better tell him. But then again, the Master might have just gotten bored and decided he wanted to pop back in time to see a past Doctor, snog him and then rip out some of his hair, either way if he doesn't tell him it'd be a double paradox.

"Yes it was you," he said.

The Master waited for him to say more, but then gave up when he didn't. "So I sent the psychic message?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yep."

"So that was the only reason we had to hand our planet back over to the old leaders?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Tell me Doctor. What did I do?"

"Nothing, well you sort of just kissed me and then ran off."

"Right. But why would I chose to send the message in the middle of us ruling our primitive empire?"

The Doctor laughed. "That's the beauty of paradoxes, Master. Sometimes we never get to choose when they happen, time chooses. Like if a younger you got handed a letter by an older you and then when you grew older, you handed that letter to you're younger self. So really time made the letter because if it weren't for that paradox it wouldn't have existed."

"I don't need you to explain things to me, I'm not human."

"That was really nice of you."

"What was?"

"You called them humans, instead of apes, monkeys, primitives or whatever else you like to call them."

"Are you just trying to provoke me?"


	13. Stone's Slave

**Chapter 13**

**Author's Note: Spoilers for Blink, Time of the Angels and Flesh and Stone. It doesn't really have anything to do with those episodes but you'll see why it was spoilers for them. No warnings. I don't own the Doctor and the Master, even if i wish i do. Enjoy!**

**38**

She sat in her office at the back of the shop staring at the pictures. They were beautiful, a work of art. Well the photographs weren't, it was what was in them that counted. They looked so peaceful and serene. The pictures were almost mesmerising. All her life she wanted to see one in person. She just wanted to run her hand along the amazing designs. If only they could come to life and be her friends.

_'Stop getting lost in your childish fantasies!' _she scolded herself.

She was so lonely, so alone. She just spent day after day sitting in that damn shop, and wishing she could befriend one. _'But they're not real! They can't be you're friend. They're not even sentient!'_

Jayden would understand, he always understood. Jayden used to go out with her searching for these creatures, until he became one of them. She hasn't seen him since. It's as though he just ran away from her. _'They can't run! They can't even move their legs!' _Yet another part of Ella's mind thought different.

It was as though the creatures were telling her that they are alive, that they need her help, that she was already going to help them.

So she would. She would follow her newly appointed orders to help them. She would save their poor soles from entropy. She would free them from decay.

"Ella!" an annoying voice interrupted her scheming.

She ripped her eyes from the photos and looked over her shoulder in the direction of the door. "Coming," she shouted.

Ella got up from her chair and sped towards the front desk.

"Honestly Ella, ever time I come to check up on you, you're always in the back room!" her boss said from over the desk.

"I have more important things to do than guard the desk, Mildred," Ella grumbled.

Mildred wore a cream coloured business coat with the same colour skirt and with a white shirt. She looked as if she was dressed to run a proper business, not just check up on her employee at a small little variety store. Mildred's skin was going wrinkly, she also had black hair that was staring to gray, tied up in a bun. Ella didn't bother wearing such professional clothes; she just wore pail green track pants tucked into grey sheep skin boots with a black t-shirt and a white and green shipped zip up hoodie. She had her blond wavy hair resting on her shoulders. She wasn't really one for fashion.

"When you signed up for this job, you signed the contract that said you will do that job properly and actually serve people when they come into the shop!" Mildred yelled.

"No one has walked into this shop for weeks while I'm on duty. No one!" Ella retorted.

"That's only because you haven't been at the desk to see them!"

"You know what. I quit. You can have you're little silver metal name badge back!"

Mildred made a big deal about how she was not to loose the badge, every single day, so Ella felt so great just throwing it at her and walking out of the shop. She'd come back for her pictures later.

Suddenly a loud noise filled her ears. "What on Earth?" she asked no one.

A blue police box began to materialise in front of her. She began to laugh. After all of these years she had finally cracked it. She finally went insane.

Two men emerged from the box, one with a big happy grin on his face and the other with an annoyed look.

Something clicked inside Ella's brain.

"Oh," the happy one with a brown striped suit and messy hair that looked like it had previously been styled to look spiky muttered, as he spotted Ella standing there and gaping.

"Did you break the perception filter?" the other own wearing a black suit and also had messy brown hair, but was a bit shorter.

"Well you were the one who pushed me onto the controls," the first one argued.

"Would you rather me have not?

"No, I just think we should be a little more careful."

"Weren't you always the reckless one and I was the neat one, Doctor?"

"Oh where did things go wrong?" the one known as 'Doctor' sighed.

"Excuse me," Ella interrupted, she hated being ignored. "Are you figments of my imagination?" especially by figments of her own imagination.

"Yes, we are front the darkest and most deadly pits of your mind," the unnamed one said like he was trying to scare a child.

Ella was 23, why did she still have to deal with idiots who thought themselves more superior than her, just because they were older. The men didn't look much more than ten years older than her anyway.

"No we're really not," 'Doctor' confessed. Well at least one of them was truthful.

"We're something a whole lot worse," the unnamed one spoke again. "We are you're nightmares come to life!"

"You'd still be figments, if you were my nightmares," Ella said.

He glared darkly at her.

"So what's your name, 'child who can see through the perception filter'," 'Doctor' asked trying to change the subject.

"I don't even know you, why on Earth would I tell you?" she asked.

"I really don't know," the man mused. "Well I'm the Doctor and this is my friend the Master." He gestured to the other man.

"Friend?" the Master asked indignantly.

"Fine, _boy_friend. You happy now?"

"Absolutely," he grinned either evilly or happily, it was too hard for Ella to tell. "So who might you be, little child?" he asked her.

"I'm not a child! I'm 23!" she yelled. Why are these crazy men talking to her?

"When we were 23 Earth years old, we got called children, so why shouldn't you?"

Earth years? "I've had enough I'm leaving, and if you don't let me go I'll call the police."

"We are the police," the Master said pointing to the police box behind him.

"Ooh look a variety shop!" the Doctor said excitingly.

"We go to a whole planet filled with shops and you still get excited about seeing one now?"

"Can we go? Please can we go?"

"You remind me so much of you."

"I am me."

"You know what I mean."

"So is that a yes?"

"Yes."

The creepy men walked away from Ella leaving her all alone on the street with that strange police box. From all the history lessons she did, she knew police boxes were around in the 60s and rarely ever seen in this decade, so why is it there.

_'Temporal/spatial transport,' _something told her.

Ella ignored it and walked back into the variety store. For some reason she thought today was going to be a very long day.

**39**

Mildred stood in the closet with an arm-like thing ready to choke her if she dared to move. She wanted to cry out for Ella, if only she hadn't stormed out of the shop acting like her usual bitchy self. Mildred was about to scream but the arm got closer to her neck.

"Oh look at that!" some guy outside of the closet said excitingly. "That's amazing, that is. Pure genius."

It was just some customer looking around the shop. Maybe he could help her?

"How is a duster amazing?" another customer asks.

"You know, they dust and all that. It's good," the first one said.

The other sighed. "And I got called the crazy one."

Mildred decided she was going to take a chance and try to escape this cupboard. She was not going to stay in here while there are customers in her shop. Who would serve them? The closet door flew open and Mildred bashed it with her body. With nothing to stop her from falling she landed on the ground. "Ow," she said more annoyed than hurt.

The two costumers looked over at her in surprise. One of them was holding a snow globe; he dropped it to the floor in shock.

The other raised an eyebrow at him. "Great job," he said sarcastically.

Mildred pushed her self from the ground and gripped a nearby bench to stand up. "You need to pay for that," she instructed.

The one who broke the globe was still too frozen in shock.

"Yes there is a human who fall out of a cupboard, is it that surprising?" the other one asked.

The first one took a big breath to calm down. "I just thought I uh… saw something," he said, then shook his head. He walked over towards Mildred.

"We're part of the…" he began to say as he fished something out of his pocket and flashed it at her. "I think you get the picture.

The note said that they were from the shop inspection agency and they have the right to do anything to shop items that are not up to the standard quality. "Shop inspection agency?" Mildred asked. "Is that even real?"

The man smiled. "Well obviously. If it weren't then I'd have no excuse to smash snow globes, hey?" he asked.

"I guess not," she replied. "So what are your names?"

"I'm Dr John Smith and this is Master Harold Saxon."

"I thought only young boys are supposed to go by master, shouldn't you be a lord?" Mildred asked. There was something shifty about these people.

"Well I guess Lord will be sufficient," the other man said.

"So Dr Smith and Lord Saxon, the agency never informed me about this visit, why didn't they? I have a very tight schedule and I can't deal with unexpected inspections."

"Oh don't mind us, we'll be out in a jiffy," John said as he made his way around the shop looking at random items.

"But I really must protest…" Mildred tried to say.

Ella suddenly entered the shop with an annoyed look on her face. "So you two are with the police?" she asked the men. "Who are yous?"

Mildred gave Ella a deadly stare. How could that little bitch just strut back in here after just quitting?

"I'm Detective Inspector Saxon," Harold said. "And this is Detective Constable Smith," he said pointing at John.

"Oi! Why do you get to rank higher than me?" John asked in outrage.

"Hold on, I thought you said you were from the shop inspection agency?" Mildred asked in confusion.

"Yes, shops are within our inspection jurisdiction," Harold said.

"I don't believe this," Ella said taking a seat on a wooden chair that was actually for sale.

Disrespectful girl! "So why are you back?" Mildred asked. "Haven't you had enough slacking off while I work?"

"No, I love to watch you work, because you are so fascinating and definitely not dull, bleak and have absolutely no personality," she said smiling almost sweetly.

"I've had it with you! Get out of my shop!" Mildred yelled.

"Excuse me, could I please interrupt for a second?" Harold asked standing between Ella and Mildred's evil staring. "But why are there a bunch of photos of Weeping Angels over there?" He was pointing to the back office that was Ella's.

Ella jumped up and ran toward her office. "I was going to collect them," she said as she disappeared out of sight.

Harold leant of the desk with his head on his head. He closed his eyes as if he was in pain. "Do you feel that, Doctor?" he asked the DC.

John was looking in the cupboard that Mildred had emerged from. He turned back to Harold. "The time energy?" he asked.

Harold nodded.

"Yeah, it's a bit hard not to feel it scattering around this place. I wonder why that is?"

"No idea, travelling with you is like being in a crime series, only real."

Harold followed Ella to the office where the photos are.

"What's wrong with Ella's photos?" Mildred asked the Doctor.

"Err nothing. Nothing, no reason for worry," he said as he also went to Ella's office. Mildred also followed.

"…So what are you?" Harold asked Ella.

Ella looked at him in confusion. "I'm human, I just told you."

"A human with an obsession for Weeping Angels?"

"What's so bad about angels statues?" Mildred asked him. Although she was defending Ella, she knew it better to have one person you can sort of trust around unpredictable strangers.

"Statues…" John said in wonder. "Oh no… no, no, no, no, no."

"What's wrong?" asked Harold.

"I saw one earlier back on S4P, but I didn't think it was one of them. It looked as if it was starting to decay."

Harold quickly turned back to Ella. "How many are there?" he asked.

Ella looked at him in confusion.

"You're connected to this, so you would know. How many?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Her eyes suddenly went weird like she couldn't look away and then she said, "Only one… wait why did I say that?"

"Somewhere in your subconscious, you know what they are," John told her.

"Oh can someone please tell me what is going on!" Mildred yelled. No one even looked her way.

An angel statue suddenly materialised in the room.

"I've done my part, my purpose is served!" Ella screamed hypnotically.

The two men kept staring at the angel without blinking.

"Temporal disturbance, I told you it was important!" John yelled at Harold but kept looking at the statue.

"If that's the same one, that means it followed us here," Harold said.

"Or maybe it led us here."

"Either way, we need to kill it."

"What close your eyes and stab it with a knife?" John asked unbelievably. "It's too fast."

The angel looked a bit disconfigured. It looked as though it had started to melt. One second Mildred was staring at the angel and the next the lights were out.

**40**

The Doctor quickly got his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it at the area where the angel was. He was hoping the blue light would be enough for them to see it so it stays still. But unfortunately the angel was gone.

"Where is it!" Mildred screamed it fright. "It's gonna kill me, isn't it."

"Stupid ape, it doesn't even want you," the Master said, and most probably rolling his eyes if the Doctor could see him.

He pointed the sonic past each person in the room until he got to Ella whose body was dried out on the ground.

"Her purposed was served," the Master said. "It killed her."

The Doctor closed his eyes in grief for the girl he didn't even know, he felt guilty.

"Why do you keep blaming yourself for everything. The stupid kid wanted to help the angel lure us here; it's her you should blame. She brought death upon herself."

"It's not fair," he said. "People keep dying because of me, they shouldn't have to."

"Stop pitying yourself. She's dead, can't change that. Lets just find the angel before anyone else dies."

The Doctor's head suddenly snapped up. "It's been following us, but why us?" he asked as he started pacing up and down the office.

"It's dying, maybe it wants our energy. We certainly have a lot more than humans," the Master said.

"Humans?" Mildred exclaimed. "What do you mean 'humans'?"

"I'm an alien from out of space," the Master told her with a smile.

"Hmm, sure," she replied sarcastically.

The angel suddenly reappeared behind them. "What ever you want," the Doctor said, "We can help you, just don't take anymore lives."

The lights flashed off and on again. A message was scrawled on the wall that said, 'All I want is a Time Lord'.

The Time Lords looked at each other worryingly. They were both worrying about each other rather than themselves.

"If it sucks all the energy out of one of us, it'll have all the energy it needs," the Doctor stated trying to hold his concern.

"People that call them sociopaths are wrong. A sociopath wouldn't care about who dies," the Master said toneless, he was trying to act calm, but inside his head he was panicking. The angel wanted one of them, and they'd have to decide who dies.

The angel was no longer around. It was probably giving them time to choose.

"What are we going to do?" the Master asked.

The Doctor looked back at him, "We run."

And so they did. The Gallifreyans ran out of the office and shop. They kept running until they got to the TARDIS. The doors automatically flipped open as they ran inside.

The Doctor began to set the TARDIS into the vortex with the Master. He swore he would never let that angel kill either of them.

They were now both safe in the TARDIS away from the life sucking being, but they knew it wasn't the end yet. The Master sat on the jump seat staring into the distance thinking. The Doctor could tell he felt strangely empty. Not as in he's hungry, but just… empty. He shook his head as if to rid himself of the feeling.

The Doctor felt strange too. It was as if the angel had marked death upon them, it felt so weird and indescribable.

"The Medusa Cascade," the Master said breaking the silence.

"What about it?" the Doctor asked.

"It's a rift big enough to turn into a void entrance."

"It's too risky. It's hardly sealed properly now without opening it more."

"Didn't you seal it when you were 90? All the professors were shocked by how perfectly you sealed it."

"Then Davros tried to open it awhile ago."

The Master thought for a second. "But he died in the war. Didn't his ship go into the jaws of the Nightmare Child?"

"Dalek Caan of the Cult of Scaro saved his ship. It's a long story."

"Then what can we do? We can't just run from the angel."

"I don't know."

The Master stood up. "Well I can't just sit here while it's planning our death right now. We are not going to die!"

The Master always used to beat death every time it came by, he must have hated being helpless, but there wasn't that much they could do. But they could run.

**41**

Sleep came fast to the Master. Straight when his head hit the pillow he went into the realm of dreaming. This time he didn't have a dream about the library or some other place, instead he was dreaming memories. Well really he was dreaming about a dream he had had earlier. It was the same dream he had when the TARDIS had rocked and knocked him unconscious before they arrived at the Foods Sphere. Before he got to delve into the dream further an arm rapping around his body awakened him.

He looked back over at the Doctor. He had sweat on his forehead and was panting as if he was exhausted. He must be having a nightmare, the Master concluded.

He tried to reach the Doctor's mind to send him comfort but it was as thought his mind was metaphorically falling through his fingers like sand. The Master thought it was strange and was actually quite terrified. Why was the Doctor's mind acting like this?

The Doctor's eyes started to open and he awoke. He smiled lazily at the Master. The Master brushed his mind against the Doctor's to see if it was stable again. Thank Omega, it was.

"You okay?" the Doctor asked noticing the relieved yet confused look on the Master's face.

"Fine," the Master replied simply. Maybe it's nothing to worry about, it might have just been a terrifying nightmare so the Doctor may have put his mental shields up and it made their bond weaken.

The Doctor, oblivious to the correct panic got out of bed and fetched his robe of the hook on the back of the door. "So where do you want to go today. We could go to Mayoh Anio Le Yamai, I'm in the mood for some place peaceful? Or maybe not, how about Rilito, that might be dangerously fun?"

The Master leaned back up against his pillow. "I don't care, wherever you want to go is good."

"Or we could just randomise?"

"Sounds good, no Earth though."

"No Earth."

The Master rose from the bed and headed for the bathroom to go for a shower before they head off to a mystery planet. The Doctor went to go eat a banana and do nothing much else of interest.

After they were ready the two Time Lords stood in the console room ready to pilot the TARDIS to a far away planet.

"Oh sudden idea!" the Doctor yelled happily. "I heard about this place called Aldronus. Two sunned, fields of blue grass and a yellow sky, home to the Trynons that rummage through the underground empires."

"Sounds perfect," the Master said.

They landed the TARDIS on Aldronus. The Master was very happy to be going to a two-sunned planet. The Doctor had promised to take him to one after all. They stepped out the door onto a planet of exactly what the Doctor had described. Luscious fields of grass were all around them. The Master felt the urge to paint the grass red, but it wouldn't make up for what they lost.

The Doctor closed the door and then looked at the fields longingly. A smile suddenly stretched across his face. He began to run across the fields childishly. He looked back at the Master and shouted out, "What am I too fast for you?"

The Master also smiled and began to chase after his friend. In their first regenerations Theta was faster than Koschei, due to his short height that made him very quick, but now the Doctor was really tall, but still a lot faster than the average human or Gallifreyan. The Master caught up to him and jogged along side. They stopped when they got to the top of a slope that looked down across the rest of the land. The suns burned brightly in the sky.

The Doctor fell down to the ground and looked at the golden clouds. The Master did the same. "Look as us," the Doctor said. "Together at last. After everything we've been through we still end up lying in the fields of a twin sunned planet."

"I love you, Thet," the Master said staring at his best friend, lover and ex-enemy.

"You too, Kosch," the Doctor replied.

Their lips met as they rolled along the grass exploring each other's minds and bodies. It was too perfect. There was nothing to keep them apart anymore, no house representatives annoyed that one of Oakdown would want to be with one of Lungborrow, no demons, no war, no madness. It was just them, together for what they thought would have been forever.

Theta and Koschei were ever-constant beings; nothing should have ever come between them. No teachers, homework, studding or any thing else would ever break them apart. A cosmos without them together scarcely bears thinking about.

And yet they were blissfully unaware of the death and destruction approaching and soon nothing would ever be the same between them again.

**Author's Note: thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts.**


	14. Choices

**Chapter 14**

**Author's Note: Sorry i haven't updated in a while, today you will get two chapters. Warnings? No. Spoilers? Not really. Do i own Doctor Who? No. Read on!**

**41**

The next few days consisted of just chilling out in the TARDIS, eating, sleeping, reading, watching intergalactic television programs and rolling about together in the sadly bluish grass. It was rather wonderful.

While they were sitting down on the seat casually chatting there was a knock at the door. The Time Lords looked at the door then back at each other.

"Hmm that's odd," the Doctor said as he rose from the seat and walked over to the door. He pulled a stethoscope out of his pocket and put it against the door. He was listening for life forms outside.

"What on Gallifrey are you doing?" the Master asked from the seat. He stuck his feet up on the console and leaned back, if the Doctor was going to try to listen to sounds through a sound proof door then he better get comfortable.

"This stethoscope can work through sound-proof Gallifreyan wood," the Doctor said reading his thoughts.

"And you actually use it. Why not just check the scanner?"

"Never occurred to me." The Doctor turned away from the door and headed over to the screen. He flicked it on to show a creature that resembled an upright armadillo with six legs and antennae. They must be the Trynons. But why would they see the TARDIS? Maybe the Doctor really did mess with the perception filter.

The Three Trynons knocked again. "Well I suppose I better answer it," the Doctor said as he walked back over to the door and swung it open.

"Greetings dear friends," a Trynod said extending a hand to the Doctor. "Welcome to Aldronus. We greet you from the underworld."

The Doctor smiled and managed to shake the Trynod's paw. "I'm the Doctor, and this is the Master," he said pointing to the Master who had arrived at his side. "We were just passing through, didn't mean to bother you."

The Trynod dropped his hand. "Passing through, we thought you were staying, because we saw you taking part in mating rituals yesterday on the fields," he said naturally.

The embarrassed Doctor stopped smiling. The Master had a look of slight disgust yet slight achievement. "Did you enjoyed watching?" he asked as politely as the Trynod had.

"It was quite entertaining. I am Lyketha, these are my sisters who are also my wives Konalga and Liggi. My other seven wives are back in the underworld. It's been a very long time since we've seen any humanoids, would you like to come to our empires?" Lyketha asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll grab my coat," the Doctor said recovering and grabbed his coat from the tree-like structure it was draped over.

The Master already had his black coat with red lining on. It reminded the Doctor of his cape-ish thing from his third regeneration. He smiled at the memories. The Time Lords exited the TARDIS and followed the Lyketha, Konalga and Liggi through the fields. They eventually arrived at a big hole it the ground. The Trynods looked at it admiringly. They probably thought it was pretty impressive with their primitive standards.

"Nice hole you got here," the Master said breaking the tension.

Lyketha smiled. It was odd to watch a snouted creature smile. "Thank you. My slaves built it," he said.

"How come everyone gets slaves besides me?" the Master asked the Doctor.

"How is one armadillo everyone?" the Doctor retorted.

"Armadillo?" Lyketha asked.

"Oh it's just an Earth animal that your species resembles."

"Right. Well come alone chaps! Time isn't going to pause for you." Lyketha jumped down the hole into the darkness.

The Time Lords looked at each other in uncertainty. Konalga and Liggi pushed them down into the darkness without a moment's hesitation. The hole went deeper and deeper into the Earth until they landed in water. The Doctor and the Master swam to the edge of the underground pond and heaved themselves up onto the land.

The Master stood up with a look of hatred on his face. Unlike the Doctor he hated getting wet. He stared evilly at the Trynods. The Doctor was happy at this development. Not so long ago the Master would have shot the sky down if it dared to rain on him, and now all he did was _death stare_.

"That was, uh fun," the Doctor said running a hand through his wet hair.

"Fun?" the Master asked putting as much hate into the one word as possible. "It was bloody brilliant!" he then said happily.

And there's the Doctor's old best friend reawakening again! Theta and Koschei loved almost anything that brought them entertainment, and a giant hole leading to a pit of water, who couldn't love it?

More Trynods entered the tunnel they were in. "This is Keia, Tenola, Raio, Geligka, Tralfal, Simbitini and Eglikei," Lyketha said. "My other wives. Feel free to let them attend to you if needed." All of them looked exactly the same.

_'Do the words "attend to you" mean what I think it does?' _the Master asked telepathically.

_'I think we just entered the home of a family of promiscuous armadillos who will do anything to satisfy the guests needs,' _the Doctor replied uncomfortably.

The Master laughed aloud. _'Well this is going to be fun!' _he said.

"It's getting late," Simbitini said with a worried expression, looking out through the hole in the roof.

"Would you like to stay for the night?" Tenola asked the Time Lords kindly.

"No don't worry we've got our ship back on the surface," the Doctor said.

"But you must stay!" Keia yelled. She then realised she had made a mistake and ran off.

"Why must we stay?" the Master asked the others. They looked afraid as if the night was dangerous or something.

A gun suddenly emerged out of a plate on Lyketha. He grabbed it and then pointed it at the Time Lords. "Just come with us!" he yelled. "We could have gone easy on you, but no, your species is just so questioning!"

**42**

They were coming. Soon one of them will die and she will have energy again. It was amusing to give them the worries of the oncoming death, but she was so hungry. Just to feed off the energy would be so empowering.

"They are coming," one of those Trynods said on the communication devise, so slowly.

She didn't reply to the animal and stayed still. Her structure was crumbling even more than she thought possible. She needed the energy soon. One of them would have to make the ultimate sacrifice for the other, but what would be better, to live your life alone, or to not live at all? Oh why should she care, it's just for amusement.

She could see shadows of the approaching creatures in the distance. They stepped into view at the end of the tunnel she was in. She was so alone, with no one to talk to, because she wouldn't dare move around an animated creature. Well she doesn't really have a choice. She would give her stone heart away just to speak to one of them. She hadn't seen a Time Lord since just after the Dark Ages, so very long ago.

"No," the one known as _Doctor_ said torn between shock and sadness, as he saw her. "But the TARDIS would have sensed it…"

The other that gets called _Master _spoke next, "But that's not long enough!" he yelled in rage. "Why couldn't we be given longer?"

The Trynods grabbed a shovel out of their armour and knocked the Time Lords out. They closed their eyes so she can set up the Time Lord's ultimate doom. She moved about freely with no one looking at her. No wonder the demon had such a fun time annoying these two Lords of Time. And sickly as it may sound these two shared such love that would be very satisfying to crush.

She chained them up against the wall and left the room for them to wake up a few hours later.

**43**

The Master awoke. He could feel chains on his wrists and ankles, _hmm is the Doctor getting into bondage now_, he thought. As he opened his eyes he soon realised that now this wasn't a kinky game, it was him being tied to a wall in the dark.

The Doctor and his do good nature had gotten them into this. He had thought that the Trynods were in trouble, but no this was just a scheme to get them to this room where their death would come. Thinking of the Doctor, where is he? The Master sensed him still asleep and chained on the wall near him. Well at least they'll be together in death. Death. But he is Koschei the deathless, he can't die. He has beaten death many times before, so what's stopping him now? This time the Doctor's life is at stake too. But isn't the Doctor's life at stake every other time? Shut up!

"Your thoughts are awfully loud," the Doctor said as he awakened.

"As they should be," the Master replied. He tried to think of a plan to escape, but so far, no luck. Maybe if he bent his wrist back it would slide out of the chain.

"You'll break your hand," the Doctor interrupted his thoughts again.

"Maybe so, but not dying is worth it."

"Is this it then?"

The Master wished there was light in there. He just wanted to look into his lover's eyes again. _Stop thinking like that! You aren't going to die!_

"Being brought down my one pathetic dying Weeping Angel, you can't be serious?" the Master asked trying to be brave.

Suddenly the demons words flew back to him, _'you will burn for as long as you live in loneliness! One of you will die and there is no way to stop it! I have seen all that is fixed in time, and one of your deaths is!'_

The Doctor thought the same thing. The words hadn't meant that much them at the time, but it's starting to come true. One of them will die.

The angel suddenly blinked into the room and the light turned on. The Time Lords didn't bother not blinking this time, if the angel stood still the Trynods could do its work. Words blinked onto the wall, _'Make your choice. Who will die? I will return when the choice is made.' _The angel blinked away.

It all felt like some fucked up dream that didn't make any sense, but now it was beginning to sink in. This is the end. One of them is sure to die, and there is no way to stop it.

"What do we do?" the Master asked the Doctor. It was a bit of a role reversal. When they were younger Theta always asked Koschei for help with problems, but now the Master was clueless.

The Doctor looked at him with sad eyes. He didn't want to die or be alone either. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked with tears starting to form in his eyes.

They both knew death was inevitable, but they never thought it would come so soon. What ever happened to centuries more, living happily in each other's love? "There isn't," the Master said.

They stared at each other in silence for a very long time just soaking in each other's presence. Is this really the way they would die? Is this really the end of their lives? Crying and dying in a cave, there's not much dignity in that. To think a few hours ago they were concerned about armadillo whores, its just insanity.

"We have so much to live for," the Doctor said. "So much more to see and do."

"What about your friends?" the Master asked.

"What?"

"Your friends. Martha Jones, Captain Freak, and umm… that person with the umm… Ace, the Australian, Nyssa, Miss Grant, the American one, frizz hair person and the rest of that lot. What about the whole Earth? They all need you, but I'm nothing. Not a sole would shed a tear for my death."

Of course that wasn't true, there was the Doctor, his parents (if they were still alive) or maybe they don't care about him anymore, what if they hated him when he went renegade? What if they haven't even spared a thought about him since he left? He hadn't even visited them since that day centuries ago, so there was no way of knowing, and they're dead anyway. How about the Rani? Ushas used to hang out with them a bit when they were at the academy, how would she feel if she knew they he was dying? She'd be unaffected, because all that matters to her is the work, her main goal in life after she was exiled was to experiment only for the joy of doing so, she didn't want to help the world continue into a brighter future with better technology, she doesn't care for anyone but herself now. The Doctor's parents wouldn't give a damn; they resented Theta for dating such a troubled boy like Koschei. But then again his mum was kind of okay with them, probably natural human instinct to be sad at death, maybe she might care.

But what does it matter anyway. Everyone who ever loved the Master is too dead to care; the only one left is the Doctor. Sure, his love is enough to stop the Master from conquering galaxies, and he would no way on Gallifrey give that up for anything, but the Doctor has effected thousands of humans and other species. People care for him more. The whole fate of the universe has been in his hands more than once. The Master should die, the Doctor must continue to help the universe, because he is the hero, and the Master is the villain. The villains always die.

"No," the Doctor said reading his thoughts. "No way! You are just as important as me! You can't sacrifice yourself!"

The Master read into the Doctor's thoughts. He was thinking about the fact that the Master shouldn't be such an idiot to even think like that. The Doctor was not just going to let him die. Theta and Koschei are forever, and nothing can stop them from being together. That was how they used to think when they did not know the extent of forever. Now all of their near death experiences or little fights were nothing compared to this. What is a Doctor without his Master? What is Theta without his Koschei. Nothing.

"I love you with both of my hearts!" the Doctor screamed. "You can't do this to us! I don't want to be alone. Ever since I heard the prophecy that I wasn't alone I knew it was you, because if it was any other boring pompous old Time Lord showed up, it might take some of the aching away but I'd still be alone without you. You mean everything to me! You can't leave me again!"

"I have to," the Master replied trying to hold in all that emotion.

"Is this is about regret? Is this your punishment for your crimes? Because none of that matters anymore, that was the drumming! I forgive you for everything, please forgive yourself and don't do this."

"It's not about punishment. I know that it was the drumming; I know everything. I also know that you want to do this as punishment for taking out all the other Time Lords. You can't bear to eliminate the whole species, can you? I can forgive myself, but what about you? Can you ever forgive yourself?"

"No, but I can redeem myself. If you let me do this…"

"No! Let me die! You are not to do this!"

The Doctor looked dazed and then snapped out of it. "Did you try to hypnotise me?" he asked.

"Yeah, well nothing else is working. Why not go back to the basics?"

"Master. You've died for me once already, please just let me."

Back on the Valiant the drums were pounding in the Master's head urging him to rap his hands around the Doctor's neck and choke the life out of him, while he had a bullet wound in him, so he just let himself die, instead of killing the love of his lives. The Doctor didn't think it was fair for him to do this again. A simple solution would be for them to both die, one could go get energy sucked out of them and the other could kill himself, but they both knew they could never do that. They had both brought so much death upon others that they couldn't even kill themselves.

"No!" the Master replied as he used all of his psychic energy to overpower the Doctor and make him accept. It was really straining his mind, but he continued the psychic battle until the Doctor unwillingly obliged.

The angel blinked back into the room, as did a sentence on the wall that read, _'The decision has been made'_.

The angel blinked forward towards the Time Lords as the room evaporated and made way to the red grass and orange skies. How is this possible? Memories started fading from the Master's head as they entered an alternate world. Everything started clicking into place. He had just started travelling with the Doctor and they were cruising about in space until they found Gallifrey, which was apparently good and well. He suddenly forgot that this was strange and just got lost in the moment. He hadn't been at peace with the Doctor in eons; he should just enjoy it before everything changes again.

**44**

The Master lied down in the red grass with his head on the Doctor's chest. It was getting late, but that didn't matter because they had forever. It wasn't a windy night; it was actually quite pleasant. The twin suns had set a few hours ago.

"Sometimes I wish it could just stay like this," the Doctor said staring up at the stars in the sky.

"Time moves along, it's the natural progression of the universe," the Master replied. Oh Koschei and his never-ending logic.

They lied there for a bit longer before the Doctor broke the silence. "I missed this," he said.

"I know." That didn't mean the Master felt it too, but it was enough to keep the Doctor happy, for now.

"Isn't it better. Just being together instead of constantly waging wars across the universe?"

The Master shifted slightly, this conversation was making him uncomfortable. It was so alien to be with the Doctor again, and so wonderful, but as he already mentioned; things change. "It can be," he said truthfully.

The Doctor was very blinded in the moment that he didn't even bother thinking about the future. "Why can't it always?" he asked. Something felt wrong about all this, as if he should be somewhere else, as if none of this was real.

The Master sighed. "We can never be happy. You should know that."

The Doctor tried to sit up. He shifted the Master's head down to his thighs and looked down into his deep brown eyes. "My Koschei," he said as he ran a hand through the Master's hair.

Unlike other times the Master didn't react hostility when the Doctor said his childhood name, he just lied there looking right back into the Doctor's eyes.

"My Theta," he replied. "Always."

"Yes, always."

They lied in the red grass looking into each other's brown eyes and they ignored the death coming so soon. It was wonderful to get lost in fantasies, but being Time Lords they still had a nagging feeling in the back of their minds saying something wasn't right. Not right? Of course it's right, Gallifrey's here! The fields they used to play in as children were here, the sky they used to look up to as they pointed to which planet they wanted to visit first was here, they were Time Lords now so they didn't have to be imprisoned in school and could live there lives as they wished. Everything was perfect. It was beyond perfection.

The illusion shattered as the angel swept forward. Whatever perfect fantasy they had encountered was gone, now all they had left was each other and their memories were back in place.

"Go on!" the Master yelled at the stone creature. "Kill me then! Stop standing there and gloating about your victory and just kill me already!" He had to be killed before the hypnotics wore off the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at him with tears streaming down his face again. This wasn't fair. Why is the Master asking the angel to kill him? Doesn't he want to live?

_'No, it's not that. I would spend eternity with you if I could,' _the Master spoke inside his mind.

_'Then why are you doing this?' _the Doctor replied.

_'I'm doing it for you.'_

As the Doctor tried with all his will not to blink, the Master just kept blinking rapidly, but nothing was coming of it. The lights went out and the Master found himself in the darkness. He was dead, wasn't he? With no matrix to upload to it was just darkness. After all of his stupid and wonderful life he was finally dead. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as he thought it might be. No wonder he always used to run from death. He felt the bond between him and the Doctor weakening until it was almost nothing.

The lights suddenly flicked back on and he realised he had never left the cave. He was alive! The angel had let him life for some reason. Why?

He was out of his chains now, and free to move. Turning his head he saw the Doctor on the floor panting. The Master raced over to him and held him in his arms. It was uncannily similar to the time when he was dying in the Doctor's arms, more role reversal. The Master knew the Doctor was nearly dead, he could sense it in what was left of the dying bond. "Why is this happening?" he asked the Doctor as he cried. "It was supposed to be me!"

The Doctor looked up at the Master with so much sadness in his eyes. "At the last second the angel asked me who should die. You have always beaten death, Koschei. I can't be the cause of your death now. So many times you have almost died because of me. I'd sacrifice myself for you any day," the Doctor choked out.

"You stupid idiot! Why do you have to be so self-sacrificing! It's not fair!" the Master yelled more sad than angry. "You can't die! Please Theta! I love you so much, and you can't do this to me, or to yourself! I have nothing else in my life besides you! I need you, without you I'm nothing! Please Theta Sigma Lungborrow of Prydon! Let me give you all my energy! Let me die, and let yourself live!"

The Doctor smiled uneasily at his one and only true love. "I can't, if you love me, let me die. At least I get to die for a good cause."

"You self-righteous fool, of course you'd want to die saving someone."

"Anything for you."

The Doctor was seriously going to do this. He was going to die for the Master. And then the Master would be left all alone. "How about living for me?" he begged.

"No I can't." As their psychic connection faded the Doctor snuck a sentence into the Master's mind. _'I love you,' _he said his real name. Not the one he got called at the academy or the title he chose, but his real name that only those closest to you and you could trust with all of your hearts knew. Most Time Lords lived their whole lives without telling anyone their name.

The Master felt overwhelmed with emotions. _'I love you also,' _he spoke the Doctor's real name too.

The bond faded completely leaving only the Doctor's soulless body, which he clung onto and let his tears fall all over it. He screamed, yelled and cried for hours until he was too tired to do anything but lie there and cry while gripping onto the only person in the whole universe who ever meant anything to him. He never ever was going to leave this cave. He'd stay with the Doctor's body until it rotted away. "Why!" he yelled one last time. Of course he knew why, the message had sunken into his brain. But he couldn't think one coherent thought without thinking that the Doctor had left him… again. He had fallen apart the first time, but at least he knew the Doctor was safe, even if he did want revenge on him. But knowing that he was dead was too much.

"Please come back," the Master whimpered.

**Author's Note: Please tell me this was sad! When i was writing it i found it terribly sad, but i'm not sure if i wrote the emotions into it (if that makes sense). Review please. It was actually the Master who was having a dream in the previous chapter, not the Doctor. Just thought i'd clarify that. And i hope you understand the whole alternate reality thing in this chapter, it's not real, it's just a fictional dream the Time Lords were having.**


	15. Gone

**Chapter 15**

**Author's Note: This chapter is smaller than the others, because i had no idea what to write in between here and the stuff i have planned for the ending. But don't worry i have a plan now.**

**45**

Gone, gone, gone, gone. Alone, alone. Not fair, not fair. Come back, come back. Bang, bang, bang, bang. It was too quiet. So alone. The drums were not there, the Doctor was not there. So very, very alone. The Master banged his fist on the ground to the beat of the drums until it bled. It didn't make anything feel better, but what else is there to do.

The Trynods were probably trying to avoid this part of the cave because he didn't see any pass, or maybe it was because he didn't care enough to check. He lied there for another few hours. The silence was suffocating him. Every bright spark in the darkness was out. How in the name of Rassilon did the Doctor survive after the Time War?

The Master wanted to lie there and cry for the rest of his stupid lives, but something was calling him.

"What the hell do you want from me!" he screamed at anything listening. "What more could you take!" No one replied. But something was psychically tugging at him. "Doctor?" he whispered already knowing his hope was shattered.

_'Come back home, Master,' _the TARDIS managed to tell him.

"No," he sobbed. "I can't! I'm never ever going to leave!"

_'Please.' _The TARDIS was also grieving, both the Master and her needed to support each other.

The Master sadly tried to stand up and lifted the Doctor's body in his arms. Each step he took shot pain through his body, he must have been lying there for a very long time. He wondered throughout the cave trying to find a way out. The way he came in had been to jump down a hole, so how was he supposed to get back up? He could always ask one of the Trynods, but he didn't want to speak to anyone.

As he wondered around for a while longer until the Trynods that led him and the Doctor to the cave walked past. As they realised it was him they looked at him with something resembling pity and remorse. "We are so sorry. You must understand that thing would kill our families if we didn't lead it to you," Lyketha said sadly.

The Master just looked at him with such hate it could burn a hole in his head, then he continued walking. He wanted to annihilate all those petty little primitives but he was to grief struck to do anything but head back to the TARDIS.

"Please, we really didn't know it would kill your mate! You must believe us!" all of the walking talking armadillos said.

"Tell me how to get out of here," he said with no emotion and definitely no forgiveness.

"Walk to the end of that tunnel, it will open onto the fields near your box," Lyketha said.

The Master didn't even know he was walking anymore. It was as though his body had taken over because his mind was too sick to do anything. Alone, alone, alone, alone. Gone, gone, darkness. So, so, so dark. Next thing he knew he was in front of the TARDIS. The doors opened and he walked inside. The doors automatically shut behind him. He walked to the hallway connected to the console room and entered the bedroom. He set the Doctor's body down on the bed and lied next to it staring at his best and only friend's dead face. The TARDIS cried also. He shut down and went into a mental healing coma, to refresh his mind to try to go on with life, but he would never forget. Not ever.

While in a coma he sorted all his thoughts out. He tried to think of ways to bring the Doctor back to life, but he knew his sole is long since gone. He thought about what he'd do now that he's alone. He has their TARDIS, so he could do what the Doctor did and save civilisations, but that's not him. The normal Master would have raged across the universe and killed everything in sight, but not anymore. The Doctor had helped him, he changed him into a better man, and he can't just go and destroy the progress they've made. Maybe he'd just travel about and see the universe. There's nothing much else he can do.

He stopped his healing process and he realised he'd have to freeze the Doctor's body in the morgue, if he wanted to have a proper Gallifreyan pyre. He stood up and gathered the Doctor's body. The morgue appeared right across the hallway. It just had a whole lot of silver rectangular prism boxes, nothing special. He placed the body down in one of the boxes that merged form the wall. The box went back in and the Master turned around and went back into their room. He got back on the bed and held the Doctor's pillow. He breathed in the scent that he would never smell again. He closed his eyes and started healing again.

**46**

Weeks later he woke up. He didn't feel that much better, but now he could actually think clearly. In those weeks it seemed that the TARDIS was a bit better too. The Master hadn't been able to come up with a way to bring the Doctor back; it's not possible. His sole had already left, and the Master can't interfere with the time line.

Now what is there to do? A funeral. He'd find a nice planet to burn the Doctor's body on and then try to move on. "That is never going to happen," he said sadly. What is the Master without the Doctor; he's nothing.

_'Food,' _the TARDIS informed him. _'You need food.'_

Good old TARDIS, taking care of the weak idiotic Master who can't even keep track of hunger. He walked into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. There wasn't much food in there; he'd need to stop at the supermarket somewhere. The TARDIS also needed refuelling. To Cardiff!

After he had a shower and got dressed he landed the TARDIS roughly near a supermarket in Cardiff. He opened the door and stepped outside to the street where the stupid apes were walking about heading to their offices and stuff. The Master locked the door and headed over to the shop. Even though he got such a long sleep, he was still incredibly tired. The automatic doors opened and he stepped inside. It was the 24th of January 2011, so probably no one would remember Harold Saxon.

He walked down the aisles searching for something edible. He hated shopping without the Doctor. The Doctor used to be the one who knew what to buy. The Master found some deserted trolley with some food in it so he just wheeled it away. A woman carrying a grape fruit stared confusingly at the area where the trolley had previously been. The Master put a few more items in the cart, like onions (not that he knew how to eat one), shredded cheese in a bag, half a bag of bread (he wouldn't need the other half, now that he is alone) and let the other slices fall to the ground. He wanted some canned soup, but the cans were stacked up to the roof. How on Gallifrey is he supposed to get one off the top? He threw the trolley into the stacked cans and decided he'd keep whatever fell into it. Cans scattered all over the floor. That's an inconvenience.

The Master pulled his trolley away from the clutter and continued walking down aisles casually. Suddenly Captain Freak ran right into the Master. "And just when I thought this couldn't get any fucking worse," the Master said annoyed. "What do you want?"

"Oh it's you," Jack said.

The Master knew he was expecting to see the Doctor. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I found traces of alien energy here, and so I thought it might be you and the Doctor. Where is he?" the Freak asked.

The Master pushed past him and headed toward the cash registers.

"Have you done something to him?" Jack had his hand on his gun.

"Why would I do anything, get out my way Harkness, or I swear I will kill you! Can't I just shop for groceries without having your freakiness drown me?"

"Tell me where he is?"

"Not here."

The Master pushed Jack out of the way and pushed his trolley to the supermarket exit. He decided he didn't need to pay for these items, why should he anyway? The alarm went off as he exited the shop and pushed the trolley into the TARDIS entrance. He shut the door and fell to the ground, on the wall, near the door and put his head in his hands. He can't go anywhere without be reminded of the Doctor. Of course he didn't want to forget, but every time he heard that title he just wanted to cry, scream or kill someone. He banged his head against the wall in the beat of four.

He abruptly heard the door creek open, so he jumped off the floor and tried to act normal. "Out," the Master ordered to Jack you just let himself inside the TARDIS. "Out now. How did you get in anyway?"

Jack waved a key in his hand. "Key," he said. He must have noticed how watery the Master's eyes were because he looked confused. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Gone."

"What do you mean _gone_?"

"Just gone! How many languages do you want it in!" the Master turned around and headed down the hall so Jack wouldn't see him showing weakness. He can't deal with this at the moment. What the hell is he suppose to do. Maybe he woke up too soon.

Sleep. The Master fell to the ground and started to go into another healing coma on the cold floor of the hallway. Just when he was started to sleep Jack threw a bucket of water over him.

The Master jumped up and punched him in the face, then got out his screwdriver and fired.

**47**

Jack woke up. He was surprisingly not tied somewhere to be tortured. He was on the floor in the console room. He sat up to find the Master sitting on the jump seat looking blankly straight ahead. The Master's eyes shifted to Jack.

"You have questions," he stated unemotionally.

What is going on? Where's the Doctor? Last year when the Time Lords had come to Torchwood he found out that they were in a relationship, so why would the Master want to hurt the Doctor? Maybe he's just out somewhere. And why is the Master being so emotionless? He's not making sarcastic comments every two seconds.

"Yeah. Where's the Doctor?" Jack asked hoping to get a proper answer this time.

"No longer here," the Master replied taking in a deep breath as if to calm himself.

"Then where is he?"

"Gone."

"That doesn't make sense! Is he out somewhere?"

"No he's gone, dead, deceased, not here!" the Master yelled and then calmed again and continued to stare ahead.

"What?" Jack asked. Dead? But that's impossible. The Doctor is ever constant. "How?"

"A Weeping Angel sucked out his life force," the Master said. "No regeneration after that."

It was just too unbelievable, but yet Jack knew every word was true. The Doctor is dead. Jack had heard of Weeping Angels, they teleported people to different times and fed off their old time stream. Some angels that hadn't had a meal in a very long time start to decay so they suck the life out of their victims. He suddenly felt really mad. "Couldn't you have done something?" he yelled.

"You think I didn't try? It was his choice. And he sacrificed himself for a monster like me! It wasn't supposed to be like this!" the Master yelled.

Jack had lost lots of people who were close to him, most recently Tosh and Owen. He knew how terrible death could be, but he's only human. When the Doctor had tried to explain how much Time Lords mean to one another, it was incomprehensible. Jack never thought he'd see the day he actually felt sorry for the Master, but it reminded him too much of the time the Doctor was depressed because the Master had died.

"Oh my god," Jack said as it finally sunk in. The Doctor is dead and he died to save the Master. Wow, he must really love him then. "Are you… alright?"

The Master didn't answer. Well obviously he's not alright. " Now go," he ordered Jack.

Jack silently and uncomfortably left the TARDIS and retreated back to the Torchwood hub.

**48**

The TARDIS had finally refuelled after another 24 hours. The Master landed her on a planet Harmonia Va'Dremia quite horribly. He was better at flying the TARDIS than the Doctor but he was too distressed to land it properly today. The TARDIS landed in the Wild Land away from civilisation so he'd have some privacy. The Master stepped out the door carrying the Doctor's body, which was now in a body bag, he couldn't bare to look at his dead body any longer.

After a while he had gathered lots of pieces of wood to burn, and placed the Doctor's body on top of it. He lit a fire not using a match; he'd rather do it the traditional way in respect for the Doctor. He then put the stick of fire to the wood and watched the Doctor light on fire. This makes it final, the Master thought. There's no way back now. The Doctor's dead. Gone. Now he's so alone. The darkness was smothering him. Choking him. Killing him. How can he go on after this?

He threw the stick into the fire and walked away. _Is this how the Doctor felt when I died_, the Master thought. If only he had the Doctor's strength to go on. If only he could have saved him. He unlocked the TARDIS door, closed it and sat down on the jump seat closing his eyes and just hoping that when he opened them the Doctor would be with him again. But he's dead. Theta is dead. The Master stood up in a deadly silence. He dematerialised, and set the controls to float through the vortex for a while.

**AN: Sorry if you're sick of visits to Torchwood, but the Doctor's friends need to find out that he's dead. And please tell me if this chapter was emotional too. The Master is supposed to be a bit apathetic, but i hope he seems sad too.**


	16. The Matrix

**Chapter 16**

**Author's Note: I came up with a great idea instead of pointlessly filling in time, i'm just going to imply that years have past! Maybe the story isn't sad, but i will tell you what's sad, that not a single person told me if it is not. Just please please please comment. I know i sound a little desperate, but i just really want to know what you think about it. You can even just say 'good chapter' and i will be jumping up and down in glee. Thanks for reading, now on with chapter 16...**

**49**

Years later.

Life is repetitive. There is nothing new, besides death. The Doctor had once asked why he was so determined to live while he kills so many people. There is no answer to that. The Master wanted to live because he had what he wanted: the Doctor. No Doctor, now he doesn't have anything. But he wants to keep living. He can't kill himself, or let himself die without a good reason; saving the Doctor. No Doctor to save. So now he has to live. No reason to die, but no reason to live.

Apathetic, is the way he would describe himself at the moment. He just went on day after day doing nothing, but yet something. Nothing matters, but yet everything does. A few times he had the urge to just destroy this stupid pointless universe, but his thoughts always floated back to the Doctor.

The Master had been trying to think of multiple ways to bring back the Doctor, but there's nothing. He had run into Martha a while ago, she reacted to the news exactly the same as the Freak did. Who cares what they think, why can't he just kill them; because the Doctor liked them.

It was prehistoric earth. Primitive dinosaurs roamed the surface of this rock, doing nothing but eating, sleeping and mating. The Master was jealous. Sure he had the eating and sleeping, but no mating for him. Though it's technically not mating, but same difference. He sat in some long grass throwing a rock in the air and catching it, it's amusing. A small dinosaur with a longish neck pocked its head around the tree and eyed the Master curiously.

The Master blinked at it boringly. "Go away," he said unemotionally.

The dinosaur, not understanding him started eating some grass he was sitting near. He sadly stood up and went back into the TARDIS for some serious sitting on a chair.

"I can't take this anymore!" he yelled once he was safe inside the console room. "What is the point of this? What is the point of everything?"

The TARDIS tried to comfort him, but it wasn't working.

"Why do I loose everything? I'm going mad without him," he sighed and sat down on the jump seat. "The Doctor is dead…" He never got to finish his sentence because loads of information and instructions came streaming into his head from the TARDIS database. Images flickered behind his eyes as he found what he was trying to think of for years. He set the controls for the most obvious place; he really started wondering why he didn't think of it earlier. Well probably because of those splitting headaches he was having all that time ago.

The TARDIS roughly landed. He pushed the doors open and ran out to the Vashta Nerada inhabited library. He pointed his lazer screwdriver at the lights and locked them on, so the flesh-eating aliens wouldn't be able to kill him. He pulled a random book of the shelf hopelessly flipping through pages. "Where, where, where?" he muttered. Where would he actually start looking? The information from the TARDIS had told him he the only way to bring the Doctor back. There was a memory trigger that would start if someone said the words 'the doctor is dead'. He couldn't believe that he had never actually said those exact words during the last few years.

The instructions weren't actually that helpful, but more information would come once he completed this part of the task. "There's got to be something here somewhere!" he yelled in frustration.

The Doctor had actually uploaded the instructions himself, for if he ever died. The instructions also said that he didn't have long, because the Doctor's bio print that was stored inside the TARDIS would be invalid in a few weeks at the most. Apparently he needed his DNA for some reason, but first he had to find a particular book to continue with this. Time was running out, he needed to find it very fast. The book held more instructions to save the Doctor. Why not just keep all the instructions instead of hiding more in the library. "Oh it's so him to just hide it in the biggest library in the universe!" the Master yelled.

He was having a weird sense of déjà vu, this was what he was dreaming at the beach. He suddenly felt an invasion in his mind. A familiar mind was trying to access his. It was the past Doctor from back at the beach. They must be in the TARDIS now trying to find out what's wrong with the past Master's mind.

Well he couldn't keep thinking of this he didn't have long. Maybe all of this is connected, all of the paradoxes they've been having, and the Torchwood rift manipulator disappearing. But what does the rift have to do with anything? The Doctor pulled some thoughts from his head. _Library. Search. Find. How? Death. Life. Rift._

The Master ignored him and ran down some corridors not knowing where he was really going, but he knew he'd find this book. Somehow he was going to save his Theta. "Where is it!" he yelled. He had been trying to stop thinking of the Doctor for ages, but all of this was just bringing the memories back, not that he wanted to loose them.

His eyes started to water as he saw the Doctor materialise in front of him. He gaped at him in shock. He ran right through the Doctor. "No!" he yelled. "I've gone mad again!" He knew the Doctor was in his head a while ago searching for whatever was making that terrible noise, but how could he be here!

The Doctor shook his head. "No, this is a dream it's okay. I'm just projecting into your dream. But I don't know why you can't touch me though," he said soothingly.

"Oh," the Master said. The Doctor actually went into his dream, he should only be able to do that if the Master's mind was shattering! "I'm in the TARDIS dreaming of this, when we arrived at Torchwood?"

"Yes…" the Doctor began to say.

"Stupid paradoxes. Those idiots at the academy thought they taught us everything about paradoxes." The Doctor was actually here, but it wasn't really his current Doctor, if he was alive. It did feel more than wonderful to see him again, but it was just like reading a book for the second time.

"Paradoxes? What do you mean?" The Doctor looked very confused.

"I'm dreaming of the future, you're in my head so now you've telepathically arrived in the future," he tried to explain. He remembered back to when he was asleep at Torchwood. He could remember all that the Doctor was thinking. Around now, he was thinking why any sane Time Lord could have a paradoxical mind. "I'm not sane," the Master answered. "I've truly cracked it now. My mind is shattering which is blending past and future selves dreams and realities together," he said like it was a well-known fact.

The Doctor wanted to know what had happened.

"Time lines, Doctor. You know the rules. I can't tell you."

"If you're from the future then how come you can read my thoughts?" the Doctor asked.

"I remember what you were thinking from back then."

"Oh, well what are you searching for? Maybe I can help."

The Doctor can help. He's the one who placed the book here! "Oh yes you can! I should have thought of this earlier. Then again, I guess I did. I'm searching for a book, and a page in the book."

"Going to tell me what book."

More information streamed into his head. The day the Doctor had set up this emergency plan for if he died, he had erased his own memory, so he wouldn't know. But the TARDIS told him that the Doctor had actually been to the library before and she had given the book to him in the form of a humanoid, because the past Doctor that set this program up had told her to.

"You were here a while ago, at the Library. A woman gave you a blue book. That book has the instructions," the Master told him trying not to give too much away, or he might realise that he's dead and that would be bad.

The Doctor remembered. "River? Her diary?"

The Master shook his head. "It's not a diary and she's not a real person. She was really a 4D hologram that the TARDIS designed to help you."

The Doctor was starting to understand. "To save me?"

"I've already told you too much. Just help me find the book. Where did you put it?"

"A ledge, follow me!"

The Doctor started running away down some more corridors with the Master behind him. They eventually got to a ledge where the blue book was sitting. The Master rifled through the pages. All of the pages were blank besides one. That one page told him what to do next. "Yes!" he screamed. "It's here!" He hadn't smiled in ages, the huge grin he gave the Doctor almost hurt. "I hate you so much," he lied but then truthfully said, "But I love you more."

The Doctor still looked very confused but he smiled back anyway. The Master would give almost anything to touch him right now, but then he remembered that this is not his Doctor. The Doctor faded from the library leaving the Master alone with a new set of instructions.

**50**

Everything was fitting into place. It was all starting to make sense. The next place he landed was Torchwood. But this time he landed before he landed here with the Doctor. No one was there. The team were probably out somewhere shagging aliens, or whatever they do. The Master opened the door and stalked over to the column in the middle of the hub. He had no idea how he got it removed in the past/future. Maybe he could just pull it out of Torchwood, with the TARDIS, but that would cause a lot of damage, and there was no damage here last time.

Maybe he could use a transmat beam? They usually transport matter without any destruction. He figured he'd probably need to open a rift, because he's taking the rift manipulator. Why couldn't he just use the TARDIS to open a rift? Oh well, might as well stick to the book. It might be a terribly big rift that the TARDIS can't open.

Too bad the Doctor had taken down all of the TARDIS battle weapons, even the transmat, even if it's not remotely dangerous if you know how to use it.

He spent the next few hours building a transmat ray. After that was complete he went searching for a nice planet to start working on. He picked an uncivilised planet called Drusilca. The Doctor and himself had planned on going there when they were younger, but never got the chance. They had wanted to go here because of the silver lakes, and the pinkish sky. It was beautiful, but the Master felt so alone, even with all the slightly psychic trees. In the future the trees would be chopped down and turned into psychic paper.

It didn't bother the Master, because knowing everything fixed in time, makes you get used to change, well little change. He swung the door open and walked over to the little house the Doctor had built. He knew he had built it from their memory sharing.

**51**

It was the day after the jar incident. Theta had found out that his friend had stolen the jar of the bully's ashes, breaking their trust. Theta was willing to forgive if nothing else went wrong, but everything was already going wrong, so he wanted to fix it.

He was terribly sad. His best friend in the whole universe for 500 years was acting really creepy. Koschei had been acting creepy for years now. He was antisocial, tired, mean, selfish, sadistic, and depressed. Theta wanted to make his friend happy again, like he was a very long time ago. Koschei has been having these stupid headaches for centuries now, and it's been ruining all their fun.

Theta used to be able to make the drums stop or at least quieten down, but now nothing is working anymore. So he decided he'd do something really special for Koschei, to try to make him happy. They had a TARDIS, and had been travelling time and space for 50 years now, freely. They had run away from Gallifrey at the young age of 450, because it was just so boring.

Theta was planning to take him to a planet of silver lakes and pink skies called Drusilca. When Koschei had been sleeping (trying to sleep), he had snuck out and got a cute little house built there for them. They could stay in the nice atmosphere for as long as it took to stop the headaches.

"Kosch!" Theta said excitingly gazing down at his sleeping lover.

Koschei breathed in an awakening breath and slowly opened his eyes to look at the most wonderful person in the world, no matter what the drums thought. "Thete," he replied. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not too long." Theta had a secretive smile on his face; he must be planning something.

Koschei sat up and twisted to face him. "What's going on?" he asked trying to ignore the drums that he could barely hear over.

"It's a surprise."

"What's the surprise?"

"Well it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"I guess not." Koschei suddenly winced. The drums exploded louder and louder.

"What's wrong?"

"The drums…"

"What drums, I can't hear anything. Please let me help."

Koschei looked up at Theta through his pain and scoffed. "You might play doctor with everyone else, but not me! I'm fine, leave me alone!" He stood up and exited their room.

"Please just let me help, Koschei!" Theta ran after him.

"Go away. You know I always wondered why on Gallifrey you chose that worthless title, but now I know. Because you have the need to try to make everyone better, like a stupid Earth doctor!" Koschei shouted and stomped away. "Why can't you just except me as I am, instead of trying to change me?"

"Because you're sick!" Theta yelled back. "You're not well. And it tears me apart seeing you like this!" Theta didn't want to bring all this up until they were out on the planet, but he just had to say something.

"I am fine! So what if I'm insane? Who cares if I hear drums? Who cares if they tell me to kill everyone? What does anything matter when they're coming! Banging on my head… it's not fair!"

"Kosch, please."

"That's not my name! I'm leaving, right now. Just let me out and we'll never see each other again."

"No, I love you," Theta cried. Koschei never meant anything he had said when he was in these weird states that were becoming more frequent each year, but every word hurt.

"Let me out now, or I will kill you!" Koschei looked awful. He had such hatred and evil in his eyes, he could murder people just by looking at them, it was terrifying.

"You won't."

"Why not? What do you think is stopping me?"

"You love me too!"

"People change."

Theta laughed in dry humour. "Like you can talk about people changing!"

"I think you'll find that I am talking!"

"It's an Earth saying."

"You and your stupid Earth! Let me land on Gallifrey right now," Koschei said hypnotically.

"Don't hypnotise me!"

Koschei pushed Theta out of the way and didn't feel any regret as he walked away. Theta pushed himself off the ground and ran after Koschei who was landing the TARDIS. "It hurts, Theta," he said in pain. He looked so harmless and weak, but Theta knew he's not.

"I know, I know. Just don't do anything irrational. If you need a break, then we'll go back to Gallifrey and leave when you're ready, okay?" Theta asked.

"What?" Koschei was straining to hear over the raging inferno in his head.

"Come on lets go," Theta said ignoring the question and reaching for Koschei's hand.

"Don't touch me." Koschei walked out the door leaving Theta sad and alone.

Theta ran out the door, Koschei was already far ahead on the path to the Citadel. Theta was getting faster than his friend, so he ran up to him. "Don't leave, please. Everything will work out."

"No it won't! I hate you, you hate me, a relationship can't work like that," Koschei replied. His dark hair was falling over his eyes; Theta was sort of glad he couldn't see the evil his eyes showed.

"I don't hate you!"

"Well it sure sounded like you did yesterday!"

"Sure I was mad, but it doesn't matter! All we've got is each other, I can't even bare to think about what I'd be without you!"

"It's all about you! When we go save some idiotic race, it's 'oh Doctor, we are so grateful', when we visit that little pet planet of yours it's 'look the Doctor has returned to save us, because we can't handle it by ourselves'. When will it ever be me! You care about all of those stupid planets more than me! It will never be me!"

"That's not true! You're the most important person in the universes!"

"You don't believe that! You just think I'm a murderous insane bastard who you pity. It's pity not love."

"What about everything you've done to me! Do you really think I'm happy in this relationship! Do you know the hell you put me through?"

"Well if we're so unhappy why don't we just end it? Bye Doctor." Koschei walked around Theta and headed back to the prison also known as the Citadel of the Time Lords.

Theta sighed and closed his eyes in sadness. "I'm sorry, please come back." Koschei didn't, so he once again ran after him and stopped him in his track.

"Get out the way!" Koschei pushed him down and stalked away.

**52**

The next few days consisted of modifying the rift manipulator. The TARDIS has subconsciously supplied him with more information. He now knew which rift he had to open; it was the Medusa Cascade. He remembered back when they were 90 years old and the Doctor had sealed that rift. It was when he had had enough of the pompous Time Lords, and tried to run away for the first time. But he came back, obviously.

It took ages to finally cannibalise it enough to get it to work on the biggest rift in the universe. But finally it was complete. All he needed to do now was to open the rift and fly right into the eye. The rift manipulator was set to open the rift as the TARDIS flies near the cascade, so he opened the doors and stepped back inside the old ship. The time rotor began to move as he set the controls for the Medusa Cascade. The TARDIS dematerialised from planet Drusilca and appeared back in space. He flew it to the rift and it opened to reveal an endless swirling chasm into the unknown.

He flew right in there, straight when he reached the end of the chasm he appeared in a mindscape. It was the Matrix! Well not the actual Matrix, but the one the Doctor had made. So much information was open to the Master. He remembered when he used to have access to the old Matrix. Tons of information poured into his mind. It would be so easy just to absorb that information and know all again, but he promised the Doctor he wouldn't do anything bad. The whole Matrix mindscape suddenly started to go pixillated. It started breaking down until the Master was back in the TARDIS and far away from the cascade.

"What?" he asked no one in a very Doctor like way. He ran over to the scanner.

It read, 'Malfunction; wrong DNA; needs bio-print of the Doctor'.

That means it's rejecting the Master from entering the Matrix. It had to be the Doctor who entered. "Why would he create a backup plan for death, if he has to be alive to work it?"

The Master was really freaking out now. How was he going to do this? It's impossible! The Doctor's bio print that was stored in the TARDIS had expired over the time he was modifying the rift manipulator, so now there is no way he can open the matrix. The Doctor is going to be dead forever! The Master's breathing sped up, all this anger and sadness built up inside him. He wanted to hurt something, kill someone. He couldn't really hear the drums, but he was thinking in the beat of them. It was as though he was accidently forcing the sound of drums into his head whenever he was distressed. Now he really is crazy.

"What the hell am I supposed to do!" he screamed as he banged his fist on the console.

The TARDIS didn't care, she was just as sad. The Master just needed to get out of there so he set the coordinates to random and let it land anywhere. When it landed he ran out the doors to find himself on some very Earth-like planet, but the main humanoid species had silver skin and white hair. There were also some other species there so the Master didn't look that odd.

He locked the doors and pointlessly walked down the street. He wanted to kill all of these primitive creatures watering their flowers and writing their essays. He could imagine the satisfaction of compressing all their tissues in their bodies or shooting them with his laser screwdriver. Watching the blood seep out of their skin would be so mesmerising… but that's not what the Doctor would want. Stuff the Doctor! He's dead! He got himself killed! And left the Master all alone! It's not fair!

**Author's Note: the flash back is set between when Theta finds out Koschei kept the jar of ashes, and when they sleep together for one last night on Gallifrey and Koschei wakes up alone.**


	17. Restored

**Chapter 17**

**Author's Note: Hello everyone. I'm sorry i gave no warning, but i really didn't think it would end this soon. This is the last chapter. I thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting and subscribing. All of you wonderful people out there really encouraged me to continue with my writing. Look at what this story that was at first going to be a one-shot has become. Remember the first chapter, and then think of this chapter. Thanks to you i have created a whole history of these two Time Lords. I hope you enjoyed this whole story, and please review.**

**53**

It was so dark in the alleyway. She stepped over the bricks lying around and the puddles of oil as she tries to find light. Noises were behind her, the sound of someone approaching. Maybe she can ask the person for help. Then again she's in the darkness, alone, in an alleyway, maybe this person's intentions aren't as nice as she thought. She picked up her pace and tried to escape. The mystery person's footsteps also quickened. Finally she saw light.

An abandoned pub in the street had a tiny light bulb that was on. She thought that that must mean there are people in the pub; maybe she can call the Finders, if the pub has a communication devise. The finders are a group of people who help lost people find their way on planet Maxapeglapolia.

The woman banged on the pub door begging to all the gods she believed in that it would open. Sadly it didn't. Some city worker probably turned the light on. She turned around to find a man walking down the alley with a determined look on his face, he also looked very sad. The woman started to pity him, even though she didn't even know the strange man who was following her. Her fear skyrocketed as he stepped closer and stood right in front of her.

"What do you want with me?" she asked in a very afraid voice.

The man laughed insanely. "Why would I want anything to do with you?"

"You were following me."

"Yes, I was." The man sounded as if he was trying to talk to a child.

"Why?"

The man bent his head back and laughed again.

"What's so funny?" the woman whimpered.

"You know what?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Of course you don't. Well I'll tell you what, shall I? I really don't know what's funny?" The man sadly sat down on a barrel. He looked so sad, distressed and clearly unstable.

"Do you want me to call someone?" she asked.

The man looked back up and her and then looked away.

"Oh who am I kidding? How on Maxapeglapolia can I call someone, without a communication devise?" The woman sat down on a piece of wood lying around. "I'm so lost. Do you have any idea how I can get out of this never ending alley?"

"How would I know? I just came here!"

"Sorry."

They sat there in a companionable silence. None of them wanted to talk, so none of them did. The man started to tap his knee, probably in frustration.

"What's wrong?" the woman asked.

"Why would you care?"

"I don't, I just want to know."

The man sighed. "Everything."

"What do you mean everything? Not everything's wrong. There's still hope in the world, well if I ever find the end of this alleyway."

"Well aren't you an optimistic pessimist!"

"That's an oxymoron."

"You're an oxy-moron!"

"That doesn't even make sense."

"I don't care!"

There was more silence, this time not so quaint. "So who are you," the woman asked.

"No one."

"Well I'm Fijkalatajif," the woman held her tribal form out proudly. "Of the Kalata tribe."

The man sneered and looked away.

"Well at least tell me your name."

"I'm the Master."

Fijkalatajif's face contorted. "Why are you called the Master? Are you from a title calling planet or something?

"Yes, if you must know."

"Yeah I must."

The man was dressed quite strangely. He was wearing some kind of black garment draped over him, some black pants, a white shirt and a weird strip of black. She would have thought the black strip was some kind of scarf that hangs of your neck, but it didn't look very warm. Fijkalatajif wore puffy pants green and white striped pants, a white top and a green cape. "Where are you from?" she asked.

The man closed his eyes in grief. "A planet."

"You more the silent type?"

"Yes."

More silence filled the atmosphere. "Fine, I'm leaving." Fijkalatajif said as she stood and continued walking down the never-ending alleyway. He stood too. "Why are you following me!"

"Because I want to kill you!" he said ominously.

She laughed, and then stopped when she saw he wasn't smiling. She ran down the alley, trying to find an exit, even more desperate than before. He chased after her. She kept running until she tripped over a brick. He leaned over her as if to get a better look at his kill. "Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry for asking!"

"It's not your fault. Your only Maxapeglapolian," the Master said.

She looked at him with fear. "What are you going to do to me?"

"Kill you, I already said. What is wrong with you people? Ha, I know, everything!"

"Well if I am to die, at least tell me why. Why do you feel the need to kill me? Why are you sad?"

"Your miniature, little head wouldn't be able to comprehend why."

Fijkalatatjif waited a while he contemplating whether or not he should kill her. While he was contemplating she began to think about why he would be sad and want to kill someone. Finally the answer came to her. "You lost someone!" she yelled hoping it was true. "Would that person really want you killing someone just because they died?"

Yep that is it. She definitely hit a nerve; he stopped leering over her and turned away in remorse. "You know why I want to kill you now? Because you're so damn right."

He walked away leaving her alone again. She wanted to help him, but she wouldn't dare risk her life by following him.

**54**

Why? Why? Why? Why? It'll never change. All the guilt and regret the Doctor had taught him would stick with him the rest of his sad existence. It will never end.

The Master turned away and headed back to the TARDIS. He can't even go on a murderous rampage anymore without feeling bad about it.

He managed to find the exit perfectly, just by turning left instead of right, unlike that stupid Figcalsomething.

More days went by and nothing interesting happened. It was as if he was living each day on autopilot. Everything went back to that boring unproductive state filled with loneliness. Sure, he could pick up some idiot ape or something, but that won't change anything besides give him another thing to be annoyed at. The TARDIS just span through the vortex as the Master sat down and did nothing.

'Click, click, click, click,' he clicked a pen that he found somewhere he didn't remember. 'Click, click, click, click.' The noise went on and on.

The TARDIS passed all the exits into different time zones until it strangely stopped, shaking the Master's pen out of his hand and on to the floor. He warily stood up and walked over to the scanner. It read 'Paradoxical mixed time streams in the nearest exit'.

"Whose messing with the time streams now?" he asked no one, because no one was around.

The circular Gallifreyan writing changed slightly. It now said, 'the paradox will be created soon in your own time stream'.

"My time stream?"

The Master remembered when the Doctor and himself had landed on he intergalactic abandoned gas station. They had gotten a psychic paper message to go there. The Doctor had later said a future Master had ran out of a future TARDIS, kissed him and ripped out a strand of his hair. The memory hadn't popped up until now. Maybe that's what he's supposed to do, but why?

The Doctor was kind of still alive in some respect. Many past Doctor's were alive and are alive, so there for the Master can steal some DNA from one of them to open the Matrix! Maybe stopping their ruling of 'planet of the shops' was actually worth it.

The Master reached into the Doctor's brown coat that was draped across a piece of 'coral' and dug his had into the pocket. He pulled out the psychic paper and began to send a message to the same paper, but in the past. Then he bounced over to the controls and began to land at that horrible station.

He determinedly pulled the doors open and ran toward the Doctor until they were right in each other's personal space. Of course this Doctor had no idea what was going on, but that didn't mean the Master had to explain it to him. He better just get the job done and leave, or he'd want to stay here forever with the Doctor, even if he knew he can never really be his Doctor due to them being from two different places in the timeline.

The Doctor tried to say something but the Master locked his lips to the Doctor's and tried to kiss the life back into him. The Doctor's lips were slack for a while as he thought about whether he should kiss back or not before he pushed right into it too. While the Master was distracting the Doctor (not that he wasn't enjoying it) he reached his hand into his hair and pulled a strand out, then quickly ran back to the TARDIS, before he got too carried away.

"What was that for?" the Doctor asked with his hand to his head.

There are so many answers to that question so the Master just replied with "You,' before he ducked back through the TARDIS doors and dematerialised from the love of his lives.

**55**

It goes from life to death, life to death, life to death and another nine times, until you're really dead, unless you're unlucky. And so far he would say he is unlucky… most of the time. Born into the family of Oakdown, and being abused by his head of the family, would be unlucky. Having no friends and feeling so alone at the huge school of Prydon, would also be unlucky. Meeting the most amazing boy he has ever met and becoming best friends, is super lucky. Well it's not really luck, they were destined to be together forever. His friend and himself being the smartest boys for their age and joining the awesome group called the Deca, where they made even more friends, was very good. Later becoming lovers, with the boy that he met on his first day at the academy was one of the best things that ever happened to him. The drums from the schism taking control of him as they grew older, is not very good at all. Having to become enemies with the only person he has ever loved is one of the worst things that ever happened to him. Fighting for hundreds of years and then finally giving into their love once more is wonderful, but then having it taken away by death is the unluckiest thing that had ever happened to him in his whole existence.

But now he had a chance to bring Theta back. He will bring his childhood friend, later lover, even later enemy and now lover again back to life. It had taken a while to repair the rift manipulator to make it strong enough to open the rift again, but it was all worth it. He was now flying into the Medusa Cascade once again and hoping that his luck would work one final time. The TARDIS got sent into the chasm and entered the Matrix. The DNA scanner located the Doctor's bio scan from within the TARDIS; so it accepted and let the Master have access to the Matrix.

Now all he had to do his work out a way to revive his fellow Time Lord. He figured out that he had to just select his biological code and pull him from the Matrix and back into the real world. It wouldn't be so hard if the Matrix hadn't rejected him at first. When he had searched for the Doctor the first time he had distraught the regeneration energy that was stored in there that would give the Doctor a physical form. To bring him back to life he needed regeneration energy, and the only way to get regeneration energy would be to channel it through himself to the Doctor. The Doctor had given up his lives for the Master to live, so giving up a few lives for him would be nothing.

He began to thread the energy through the Doctor's digital form as he formed back to life. He poured five regenerations into him and kept five for himself, so they would have equal life. The Doctor's physical form was being generated back in the TARDIS. The Master faded from the Matrix and ended up back in the console room. His head was really hurting from all the telepathic work in the Matrix. There was a huge glowing regenerative light building the Doctor back together again.

The Master had to shield his eyes with his arm to prevent blindness. Soon the light faded leaving behind the most wonderful person in the universes.

**56**

Life. Why am I living? I should be dead. I was dead.

Light seeped into the Doctor's eyes as he opened them. He could see the TARDIS console room around him. His eye's finally adjusted to the light so he could get a better look. Before he starts asking questions maybe he should find out if there's anyone else here with him.

He looked across the floor until he saw someone lying on the floor. He was feeling a bit queasy from his resurrection or whatever it was. He realised the man on the floor was the Master. He was asleep. No, not asleep, unconscious. Why?

The Doctor ran over to him and kneeled by his body. He placed his fingertips across the sides of the Master's head. He wasn't dying or anything quite so disastrous, his brain just went into shutdown for a while to recover from a brain overload of thought. The Doctor pulsed energy into him to help him recover faster. The Master's eyes opened slowly as he smiled at the Doctor. "It worked," he said weakly. The Master's eyes watered with happiness.

"It worked," the Doctor assured. He had no idea how he was back, but he knew that the Master went through allot to achieve this, so he deserved some reassurance.

The Master rapped his arms around the Doctor and pulled him into a hug, then kissed him hardly until neither of them could hold their breath any longer.

The Doctor suddenly realised he was naked and started to feel embarrassed, but before the feeling could develop fully the Master pulled him off the floor and led them to their bedroom. He closed the door and then began taking off his cloves to before climbing onto the bed with the Doctor and making up for all those years apart. Their minds blended through each other as they became one.

**57**

They were just lying together for the rest of the night. The Master was gripping onto the Doctor like he was his lifeline. He was so incredibly happy that it worked, even at the cost of half his regenerations it was definitely worth it. Yet he was terrified to think that this was all real. What happens if it's not? What happens if this is all a dream? No you can't feel pleasure like this just in a dream. But it could be.

He wrapped his arms a little tighter around his Doctor, not wanting this all to fade away. It all seemed so real. The touch was real, the taste of real, the sight was real, the noises were real all right, and even the smell was real. He could smell the Doctor's Time Lord scent from miles away. Maybe it is real.

The Doctor's hair was for once not covered in gel. Probably because he was just resurrected and didn't have enough time to style his hair, just so the Master could mess it up. He had waited for so long just to be here with him. The TARDIS was ecstatic too. She was so glad both of her Time Lords were safe and together again. The Master never wanted them to leave the TARDIS ever again. There were dangers out there that can have them killed so easily. They could die any second. He'd have to discuss it with the Doctor when he wakes up, but probably after he's explained a hell of a lot more.

The Doctor finally awoke. He turned around to face the Master. Their faces so close they could feel the breath of each other. "Hi," the Doctor said. He felt so alive now. After being dead for years it is kind of brilliant to be back. There was nothing but darkness and oblivion. But of course he already knew that. The old Matrix was designed to capture the Time Lord's soles after they died, and let them live kind of virtually, they could just dream for the rest of reality. But instead this Matrix only captured his sole and sent him into a never-ending pit of dark blackness.

"Hey," the Master replied knowing everything the Doctor was thinking. Well he thought was about time for an explanation.

"After a shower and breakfast," the Doctor told him. "You would not believe how hungry I am."

The Master agreed as they stood up to do their morning activities. After they were all cleaned up and fed they sat down at the kitchen table and stared at each other taking in every detail and never wanting to let it go.

"I guess you've probably pieced it together already, but oh well," the Master said breaking the silence. "You set up an emergency program for the TARDIS if you ever died, but then erased it from your memory. It gave me instructions to get more information from the book in the Library. It told me to get a rift manipulator and open the Medusa Cascade, that's where you hid the Matrix. I tried to open it but I needed your Bio Print. It malfunctioned so I had to fix the manipulator and go back in time to get some of your DNA. The Matrix opened properly and let me resurrect you but at the cost of five regenerations."

The Doctor took it all in. "You shouldn't have," he said seriously. "Why not just one regeneration?"

"Because I can't bare you to die again. This way we'll both have equal life; we die together."

This really is what the Doctor wants, so there's no point in arguing for the wrong side so he just accepted it. "I love you," he said.

"I know," the Master replied. "I love you too."

The Doctor ended up helping the Master get over his fear of leaving the TARDIS again, by slowly going back to different planets, because how can the universe be safe without the Time Lords watching over it. They transmatted the rift manipulator back to Torchwood to fix the paradoxes and everything was back to normal, well as normal as it gets being them. So Theta and Koschei or the Doctor and the Master did get the happy ending they had always wanted regardless of what had happened between then and now. And forever more the broken Time Lords were restored.

**THE END**

**Posted 27/2/2011. Even if months have passed and you read this, i will still appreciate a review. Bye everyone, have great lives.**


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